Mr. Jack Mac Fadden made a special effort to get in touch with Trent University to commend nursing student Kelly Welch after her heroic actions prevented his friend Paul Hatjis from losing his life in an emergency health crisis at a gathering in his home this fall.

Mr. Mac Fadden and his friend Mr. Hatjis were enjoying a beautiful Saturday afternoon in the yard at his home on Kawagama Lake on Thanksgiving week-end when Paul suddenly went into convulsions that began a series of seizures. The nearest hospital was forty minutes away, but Ms. Welch, a neighbour and family friend was on hand to apply her newly acquired nursing skills in the life-threatening situation.

Over the course of two hours Mr. Hatjis had six seizures in total. After the second seizure he was completely unresponsive and stopped breathing twice. Due to the remote location, First Response was an hour and a half in arriving, followed by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) two hours later.

In describing the situation, Ms. Welch recalled: “The first three things that went through my mind were that I needed to get all of his medical history, calm his family down, and check all of his vitals. I was completely focused on the task.”

“Throughout the seizures Mr. Hatjis’s breathing was laboured,” explained Ms. Welch. “I had to keep his air way open as best I could to keep him from choking on his blood and teeth (he broke them during seizures). When his breathing became questionable I prepared for CPR by cutting a mouth-sized hole in a piece of cloth so that I would be able to put my mouth to his without getting his blood in my mouth or my saliva in his. He did stop breathing twice, but luckily he began to breath again shortly after each time.”

Ms. Welch monitored his vitals and recorded them along with his medical history. She collected all of his medications in a ziploc bag for when EMS arrived. She recorded the time and duration of each seizure and the changes in his vitals before and after each seizure while continuously talking to the family and removing them from the situation when it became too stressful for them.

When two volunteer firefighters arrived, one of them organized the airlift plans while the other worked with Ms. Welch. Mr. Hatjis was hooked up to a blood pressure (BP) monitor and blood oxygen monitor, as well as an oxygen mask. Ms. Welch shared the medical information she had recorded with the firefighter and then continued to check the BP and blood oxygen monitors as well as his other vitals. When EMS arrived she again shared the medical information, and helped to transfer Mr. Hatjis to the stretcher.

“Kelly is a very good example for others in the Trent-Fleming Nursing Program,” said Mr. Mac Fadden. “This emergency was very real and my friend's life was at stake. Kelly never panicked even when he stopped breathing.”

Kelly Welch is a second-year nursing student at Trent University, where she is on the honour roll. She chose the Trent-Fleming nursing program because of the field-work available and the program’s focus on practical knowledge, which she had the opportunity to apply in a real life setting that day in Kawagama Lake.

Ms. Welch learned how to properly move patients and how to interpret the results of a blood oxygen monitor in the Bachelor of Science Nursing Program at Trent University. She also learned the basic complications associated with seizures, how to take a pulse, how to stay calm and how to be completely aware of every other person in the situation.

When asked if this experience changed the way she approaches her education, Ms. Welch answered: “It certainly does. I now feel an obligation to the public to understand everything I possibly can about medical situations, drug interactions, and any other emergency medical situations.”

“Many people would not have been comfortable with that situation because of how graphic it was,” Ms. Welch continued. “The Trent-Fleming Nursing Program made me comfortable with seeing those things, and able to take on a leadership role in that situation.”

“Everybody had a job and kept their cool on the team under Kelly’s leadership,” said Mr. Mac Fadden. “This is an example of how good our institutions can be and this is what we are teaching our kids and it serves a just cause.”

“I was really happy that I was able to put my knowledge from nursing to use in a situation outside of placement. I found it very rewarding once the event was over, and it made me realize how much I have learned up to this point,” added Ms. Welch.

“I am very proud of Kelly’s accomplishments and I am confident that she will continue to grow into a wonderful professional nurse,” said Molly Westland, Trent University’s program coordinator for the Trent-Fleming School of Nursing.

For more information about the Trent-Fleming School of Nursing, please visit: http://www.trentu.ca/nursing