Off-duty nurse gets SCDF award for saving man with cardiac arrest
Despite resting after 12-hour night shift, she sprang into action after receiving alert on myResponder app
Just three days after she downloaded the myResponder application, Ms Rubio Franchesca Santos helped to save a man's life after she was alerted to his collapse near Boon Lay MRT station on Sept 27.
Then, on Oct 14, the National University Hospital (NUH) senior staff nurse was alerted to a suspected cardiac arrest case near her home.
But the elderly cancer patient died despite Ms Francesca performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on him .
Last week, Ms Franchesca, 31, received the Singapore Civil Defence Force's Community Lifesaver Award with three SMRT workers who had also responded to the Boon Lay station incident.
She had also received a Community First Responder Award in October for stepping forward to help her elderly neighbour.
The nurse, who worked in intensive care for four years in the Philippines and did a month-long stint at NUH's emergency department, told The New Paper she had downloaded the myResponder app after a monthly nurses' meeting at the hospital.
She did not even have a chance to figure out how it works when it started buzzing on Sept 27 at about 3pm.
She was resting in between two 12-hour night shifts, but she quickly grabbed her face mask and rushed out, following the map on the app to a bicycle park near Boon Lay MRT station, where a man was lying motionless on the ground.
SMRT senior station manager Baharudin Johan, 49, was helping to manage the crowd, while assistant station managers Hilmiah Ahmad, 35, and Muhammad Azhari Abdullah, 25, were using an automated external defibrillator (AED) on the man.
Madam Hilmiah delivered three shocks to the man, who was turning purplish, before Ms Franchesca took over.
Paramedics arrived after she did one cycle of CPR.
The nurse then helped administer intravenous lines on the man, who regained his pulse after two shots of adrenaline and was taken to NUH.
He was later discharged in stable condition.
Said Ms Franchesca: "The best award I received is knowing that the man is alive. In my mind, I knew I needed to help and I was the nearest person."
"Every second counts when there is a cardiac arrest, so if I can bridge the gap while waiting for the ambulance, I won't think twice," she added.
For the three SMRT workers, their prior first-aid and AED training was key.
Said Mr Baharudin: "I am glad that we were prepared to help because of the training we received, and we will always try our best for commuters."
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