"Unknown sex or age, Cardiac Arrest, CPR in progress, access OK"
Well that was enough to get the blood flowing and adrenaline pumping. Blues and Twos blaring we winded our way through the traffic, we weren't far away so there was a good chance we would be first on scene. Secretly most crews have their fingers crossed that they are second but today we were indeed first.
We screeched up to the house, grabbed all the kit we need and made a brisk walk to the front door (with the exception of the occasional university student we never run!). The door was ajar so with a courtesy knock we headed in.
"Hello, ambulance service"
A panicked, distraught voice shouted back...
"In here, quickly, I'm in here"
We made our way along the hallway and into the poorly lit room at the end. As we entered the room there was a man in his 50's doing CPR. He had scraggly grey hair, week old stubble, dirty clothes and tears running down his face.
"Please help, he's died, he won't talk to me"
No amount of training can prepare you for the scene that we were witnessing. We are trained in black and white and the grey areas are often skipped over. And this was indeed a grey area.
The man was doing CPR on his armchair. Not CPR on someone in an armchair.....actual CPR on his armchair.
The squeak of the springs were audible with every compression. Despite it being an innocuous piece of furniture the man was distraught. How do you deal with this? What do you say? What do you tell him?
We muddled our way through those questions, and discovered a 20 year history of extensive mental health problems. It transpires that since April 1993 he has had to fend for himself, minimal help, just left to cope with his delusions on his own. Margaret Thatcher's Care in the Community simply dumped these people on the streets. The communities didn't care because people fear mental health. Like us they don't know how to react, what to say, where to look. And to be honest, there isn't much we can do either, a trip up to A & E is the best we could offer and as he came voluntarily there is a good chance he will self discharge. Something has to be done about mental health in this country but what, i don't know.