Singapore-based healthcare staff save 70-year-old man's life in Johor Bahru
The incident occurred on National Day at 4.30pm near Malaysia's Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex, according to Shin Min Daily News.
Veenoshini Sandrasagaran, 36, a Patient Care Associate (PCA) from Parkway East Hospital, had just crossed the checkpoint into Malaysia with her colleagues Shareen Kaur Ranjit Singh, 29, and Subhashini Subramaniam, 26.
While waiting for a private-hire car, they heard a cry for help. "When we turned around, we saw an elderly man lying face down on the ground, with a woman in her 30s standing next to him," Ms Sandrasagaran told Shin Min.
Rushing over to help, they found the man pale, with foam coming from his mouth and his eyes and mouth open. "We realised his pulse was getting weaker, so we decided to perform CPR on him immediately," she recalled.
Soon after, Nanthiine Gudial Kumaran, 28, and Hemadewi Balakrishnan, 34, who are both PCAs from Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, happened to be passing by and also offered to help.
The five PCAs took turns performing CPR for about 30 minutes, rotating every one to two minutes. But when the elderly man remained unresponsive after the first 15 minutes, emotions were running high.
"I was very worried, and I started crying on the spot. I didn't know if we could save him," Ms Sandrasagaran said, recalling that the man's pulse was getting weaker, and he had stopped breathing for a period of time.
"My mind was in chaos at the time, but my only thought was to save him."
When an ambulance arrived, paramedics took over, attending to the man with a defibrillator and an oxygen mask. After 10 minutes, the man's pulse stabilised.
Medication found in the man's bag revealed that he suffered from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story stated that the five women are nurses. Their employers have clarified that they work as Patient Care Associates.
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