We have all heard the saying about being in the right place at the right time. For one young woman, there couldn’t be a truer statement. Andy Hoang, a 23-year-old New Hampshire nurse, was attending a lesson on how to treat a patient in cardiac arrest, when she found herself suffering a medical emergency.
Hoang was at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, when she said she suddenly felt nauseous and dizzy. She said she had a sudden urge to sit down. “That’s the last thing I remember,” Hoang said.
I woke up to a room full of doctors and nurses.”
She had gone into cardiac arrest – when the heart’s electrical system causes a sudden loss of function – while brushing up on the very skills needed to save her. After seeing Hoang collapse, fellow students immediately ran to her aid, shoving aside the medical mannequin they had been using to practice CPR.
Andy Hoang went into cardiac arrest at a cardiac training session. AP Photo
“One checked her carotid, one her femoral (arteries), and she did not have a pulse,” instructor Lisa Davenport said. The nurses began CPR and a ‘code blue’ was called, requesting an emergency medical team. “What was really stressful about the situation was that we never had a real code blue in the center,” Davenport said. “We train for them all the time.”
In another stroke of luck for Hoang, the hospital’s critical care team just happened to be nearby, attending their own separate learning session. More medical staff rushed in, getting Hoang hooked up to a defibrillator for monitoring, inserted an IV line and placed her on oxygen. Doctors rushed in with a crash cart.
Instructor Lisa Davenport, Andy Hoang and Lisa Davenport. AP Photo
After a terrifying 15 minutes, Davenport said that Hoang began to wake up. “It worked out, but it was pretty frightening for all of us,” she said. Hoang said that there was no family history of cardiac issues.
You just don’t expect that to happen with someone as young as Andy.”
“I would say I’m your pretty average healthy 23-year-old,” she said. “I’m on my feet 12, 13 hours a day at work, so I want to make sure that I’m in shape for that.” Hoang, who has recovered and is back to work, said that doctors were monitoring her heart to see what they can learn about what happened to her.
While the experience was terrifying, Hoang said that the experience made her closer to her fellow nurses and gave her a life lesson she won’t ever forget. “It really changed my perspective on how I view life, like ‘Hug your family a little longer,’” she said. “Tell them that you love them, because it might be the last time you get to say it to them. And just cherish life for what you’ve been given. It’s precious, and I didn’t realize how precious it was until I nearly lost it.” Watch below for a look at how this amazing set of nurses saved Hoang’s life.
