Sheila Bomar
October 2015
Sheila
Bomar
,
ADN, RN-BC
Central Staffing Office
Vidant Medical Center
Greenville
,
NC
United States

 

 

 

On March 31st, Sheila was driving down Greenville Blvd and came to a stop light and noticed a man knocking on the window of another car. As she slowly drove by she could see the driver had slumped over in the seat. Sheila sensed something was wrong and pulled over. As she approached the car, the man who first found the victim had opened the door. The man was gray and not breathing. Sheila could hear gurgling sounds only and found no pulse. She asked for help pulling the man out of the car. One of the bystanders said, "He has a needle in his arm and bleeding. Be careful." As she struggled to pull him out of the vehicle, another bystander lifted his legs out for her. This bystander called 911. Sheila immediately started CPR with chest compressions only. She also yelled for someone to run into McDonalds to see if they had an AED or facemask. After a few minutes the man still had no pulse or respirations. Sheila tilted his head back and started chest compressions again. No one was able to assist her with CPR. After about 5 minutes (which felt like an eternity), she finally heard sirens. Two police cars, an ambulance and two Greenville Fire-Rescue SUV's showed up. As Sheila continued CPR, one paramedic started pulling out the defibrillator and the other attempted an IV. She told them the man was not breathing and asked for a mask. The first paramedic started to bag the patient. Sheila then asked him if he would do compressions and let her bag the patient due to exhaustion. The second paramedic was unable to start an IV and inserted an IO device. The police told the medic that the man had OD'd on heroine. At this point a fireman offered to take over bagging the man.

At this moment, Sheila stood up and realized what was happening. She was afraid, angry and exhausted all at the same time. Afraid he wasn't going to make it. Angry that he had shot up drugs while driving. Thankfully he had not entered the intersection. After the man received Narcan he started breathing and struggling to get up. A family member showed up at this point and gave the police information as to his age and identity. At this time the rescuers were putting him into the ambulance. The police asked Sheila to stay for questions. She told him she needed to wash her hands and would be right back. When she walked into McDonalds a few people clapped their hands at which point she started to cry. Two ladies asked Sheila if she was the one doing CPR. They told her they were praying for her the whole time. At this point the tears swelled up again. The police officer told Sheila the car was full of drugs and wanted to make sure she had not been exposed or stuck with the needle. The two men who were at the car with Sheila both hugged her and said, "We're glad you were here because we didn't know what to do."

It was a scary experience and Sheila hopes not to have to go through that again but also thankful that she knew what to do. Sheila can definitely say that her training as a nurse and following her gut feeling contributed to his outcome. Sheila is grateful that the Lord put her in that place at that time and used her to help someone.