CAPTION: Jessica Fish, RN (left) and Christine Clookey, LPN (right) in front of the Malone Behavioral Health Urgent Care Center.
At Citizen Advocates’ behavioral health urgent care centers in Malone, Ogdensburg and Watertown, clients receive immediate access to lifesaving mental health and addiction services 24/7/365. Recently, the team at the Malone Behavioral Health Urgent Care Center sprang into action to help save a life in an unexpected location – the clinic’s parking lot.
“I was completing some notes in the nurses’ station when a customer support representative came in and said an individual who was presenting for services had fallen in the parking lot,” said Registered Nurse Jessica Fish.
Ms. Fish hurried outside, expecting to find someone who was injured but responsive. Instead, she saw that the individual was face down on the ground and not moving.
“I put my hand under their face and didn’t feel any breathing, then checked their pulse – nothing,” Ms. Fish said. “At that point, your training just kicks in. It’s second nature. I rolled them over, started CPR and told one of the team to call 911.”
When someone loses consciousness, time is of the essence. Within a minute, Ms. Fish had started chest compressions. Within three minutes the team, then including Matt Carista, RN, and Christine Clookey, LPN, had retrieved the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and hooked up the individual.
For the next 15 minutes, the trio of nurses performed Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) on the individual, taking turns administering chest compressions and breaths. Therapists and other clinic staff came outside to support the individual’s accompanying family members who were experiencing their own trauma. Emergency medical services arrived after 15 minutes and took lead on the situation. After a total of 45 minutes of resuscitation, the individual was conscious and breathing on their own, causing a family member to collapse with relief.
“Our nursing team is trained to handle anything that’s thrown at them,” said Ashley LaValley, Citizen Advocates’ Senior Director of Nursing and Patient Care. “Jessica, Matt and Christine jumped into action when the situation became an emergency. They did their jobs just like they would any other night, but that was the night they saved a life.”
Once the individual was stabilized and transported to University of Vermont Health Network – Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone, the clinic team knew the situation was far from over. Calls were made to check on the individual’s status and debriefings were set up that night and over the next few days to allow clients and staff who were onsite to process the traumatic incident they had witnessed.
“The entire clinic staff onsite that night came together to make this a successful outcome for this individual,” Associate Director of Nursing Kamie O’Connor said. “Credit goes to Jessica Fish, Matt Carista, Christine Clookey, Dawn Vincent, Tiffany Legault, Sue Traynor, Sandra Glastetter, Heloisa DeCastro, Tim Durney and Jennifer Parody for their outstanding contributions.”
“Later that night, I was kind of in shock,” Ms. Fish said. “We did what we needed to do. The next day, I went and talked to a therapist to process everything that had happened. That helped a lot.”
If you’re interested in learning more about a nursing career at Citizen Advocates, visit citizenadvocates.net/nurse.
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