My family and I recently visited the beautiful U.S. Virgin Island of St. John. We bought the local paper each day for news of Hurricane Alberto, which was brewing 300 miles east of us and to gain insight into the views the people living in paradise have about their home.
On the second day of our trip, we read a frightful story about a 3-year-old boy. The boy was playing in the water with other local children and disappeared. A family member present searched the water and recovered the little boy, who was not breathing.
A nearby local dentist overheard the wailing and gave the boy CPR for 30 minutes without any response. A volunteer fireman appeared and together they continued CPR for another 30 minutes.
At last the emergency medical technicians arrived, and the child was taken to the local emergency room. He regained breathing and heartbeat in the hospital and was released that night to the care of his grandparents.
I don’t recall the newspaper mentioning the dentist’s name, only that he lived on Water Island. I don’t think any mainland ADA members are aware of the Good Samaritan acts he performed with heroism. I was very touched by his deed.
On the way to the airport in St. Thomas on departure day, I asked a taxi driver about the little boy. He replied that the child was doing fine and that the whole community was watching over him.
At first, I sort of resented yearly CPR recertification as required in Michigan. For some years now my staff member and I have been recertified together. It is easy to arrange for your local hospital to send a staff member to your office to provide this training.
There is considerable value to this training. I think your office will respond to an unexpected emergency a lot quicker as a team. Delays can occur in a crisis, such as the considerable time it took for that little boy to get to the hospital.
I hope I never face a crisis in-which the need to perform CPR occurs. We can only hope we do as well as this anonymous dentist.
