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.
Andy Hoang, RNA November training session at Dartmouth Health’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) quickly took a real-life turn when a participant went into cardiac arrest. Andy Honag, RN, a 23-year-old nurse resident who joined DHMC in the spring, was in the Patient Safety Training Center, learning to respond to patients suffering cardiac arrest, when she began to feel lightheaded and asked to sit down.
“That’s the last thing I remember,” Hoang told Associated Press reporter Kathy McCormack in an interview. “I woke up to a room full of doctors and nurses.”
Her colleagues sprang into action, performing chest compressions and connecting her to oxygen and an IV. Thanks to their quick actions and training, Andy survived and is recovering. You can read the full AP story about the frightening ordeal and happy ending here.
“It really changed my perspective on how I view life, like ‘Hug your family a little longer,’” Hoang 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.”
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire's only academic health system and the state's largest private employer, serves patients across northern New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,000 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH, as well as across its wide network of hospitals, clinics and care facilities. DHMC is consistently named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, one of only 56 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and the only such center in northern New England; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, the state’s only children’s hospital, and multiple clinic locations around the region; member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene and New London, NH, and Bennington and Windsor, VT; Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and more than 24 clinics that provide ambulatory services across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its historical partnership with Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually, and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials recognized across the globe with Geisel and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT. Dartmouth Health and its more than 13,000 employees are deeply committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in our communities, and to providing each of our patients with exceptional, personal care.