THE MAN and woman who were rushed to the Nam Dong district hospital in the MEDRIX ambulance-bus have survived their ordeals and will make full recoveries.
Joy abounded amongst convalescents, family members, MEDRIX and Vietnamese heroes alike when they all gathered at the 20+ bed hospital that received them during the crisis.
MEDRIX reported that the man had been ‘air hungry’, with each gasp for breath outlining his ribs before he stopped breathing altogether. The woman had suffered nausea, vomiting and muscle spasms in her arms and hands, was unable to walk by herself and shook uncontrollably. It is believed she suffered from either severe calcium deficiency or food poisoning.
The ambulance-bus rushed the two patients – along with a doctor, several Seattle Pacific University and Vietnamese nursing students, two MEDRIX translators and patient family members - along the bumpy road to the district hospital, leaving a trail of rural residents in a quandary as to what was taking place.
Their faces each tell a story of how the ordeal and recovery has affected them.
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- From left to right: a Vietnamese preceptor; the woman who survived the medical crisis; MEDRIX’s long-time employee in Vietnam, Ms Ha, in white; SPU student nurse, Olivia Anderson; and two Vietnamese student nurses in pink
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- The man who had stopped breathing at the rural clinic, along with some of his ‘rescue team’: (from left to right) a Vietnamese nursing student, MEDRIX translator Miss Ly and SPU nursing student Molly Kane
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- The revived man’s happy wife. Note the distinctive Katu minority people’s dress
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- LaRelle Catherman and MEDRIX ambulance-bus driver, Mr Minh, who was key to getting the man and woman to hospital during the emergency
