MedSpeeder helps severely overheated patient

MedSpeed wants to recognize Pensacola LSR, James Poule, for being a great example of a MedSpeeder who goes above and beyond for members of his community. James recently took incredible actions to aid a patient who was severely overheated. Here is James’ story in his own words.

On the hottest day of July, I was unloading boxes at a large health system in Pensacola, Florida a little after noon. I noticed a man making his way across the parking lot who appeared disoriented. As he got closer, I stopped what I was doing and took a closer look at him. He was stumbling, mumbling and wet with sweat.

I approached him to ask if I could help him when he stumbled and passed out. I was close enough to him to catch him and prevent him from falling hard on the pavement. Once on the ground, he began to vomit and shake violently. I turned his head to the side to prevent him from aspirating.

At first, I thought he was conscious enough to stand, but he went limp. I picked him up and carried him into the air-conditioned medical building. Once inside I asked the receptionist for help with a man who’d just collapsed. I gathered all the water bottles I had with me and began to pour them over the man. He regained consciousness enough to begin to communicate. Just then, two nurses appeared with more water to pour over the man. One nurse took his core temperature… it was 124°… he was near a stroke.

The nurses used a wheelchair to take him back to an examining room.

My takeaway from this is to always pay attention to the people around us. We had heard so much about watching out for symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke in ourselves, that we forgot to watch for those same symptoms in everyone else as well.

James Poule has been a MedSpeeder for 7 years and is also a decorated actor. James has played supporting roles in movies such as “Three-Headed Shark Attack”, “Ardennes Fury” and “Home Policies”. Thank you, James, for going out of your way to help others!