{"id":3221,"date":"2012-10-24T05:10:39","date_gmt":"2012-10-24T09:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=3221"},"modified":"2012-10-24T08:14:57","modified_gmt":"2012-10-24T12:14:57","slug":"the-best-of-timesthe-worst-of-times-part-3s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/10\/the-best-of-timesthe-worst-of-times-part-3s.html","title":{"rendered":"The Best of Times\/The Worst of Times Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Worship is the apex of all the many things we do at Special Gathering.\u00a0 Therefore, it is vitally important to us that things go smoothly but there are weeks that are beyond interesting and border on bazaar.<\/p>\n

A couple of years ago, there was a Sunday at our Melbourne program that was \u201cbeyond interesting.\u201d \u00a0We were celebrating a birthday.\u00a0 Then some of our members with autism began to exhibit behaviors.\u00a0 As I was closing the devotions for the day, Criss began to yell, \u201cDon\u2019t do that!\u00a0 Stop it!\u201d\u00a0 Criss and her twin always sit in the back of the room.\u00a0 They have a friend\/volunteer who sits with them because even though Criss is high functioning she is blind and in a wheel chair.\u00a0 She needs physical assistance.\u00a0 Her twin is much lower functioning but with no physical disabilities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>When I looked over her way, Criss was frailing and trying to hit her friend.\u00a0 Because this is totally out of character for Criss, I knew that she must be seizuring. \u00a0Without changing the tone of my voice, I said, \u201cGod wants to honor each of us.\u00a0 Time it,\u201d \u00a0However, everyone seemed to be confused about what was happening and no one began timing the seizure.<\/p>\n

I knew I needed to get the attention of our most experienced volunteer.\u00a0 David is a professional who owns and operates three group homes.\u00a0 He has been on staff with Special Gathering.\u00a0 \u201cDavid,\u201d\u00a0 I said, \u201cplease begin to time this.\u201d\u00a0 He immediately\u00a0started to time the seizure and walk toward\u00a0Criss\u2019 small group.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I closed in prayer and dismissed everyone.\u00a0 The\u00a0other volunteers\u00a0snapped to attention and put their best\u00a0plans into action.\u00a0 \u201cWe have birthday cake,\u201d Priscilla said loudly.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s go celebrate.\u201d\u00a0 After worship we normally go to the\u00a0social hall for refreshments with the church body.\u00a0\u00a0The other volunteers\u00a0began ushering all the members out of the\u00a0gym into the social hall.\u00a0 David was still timing the seizure, by now it had been 1 minute and 45 seconds.\u00a0 I called the girls\u2019\u00a0caretaker.\u00a0 After explaining the situation to her, I said, \u201cWe normally call 911 after three minutes.\u00a0 It\u2019s been 3 minutes and 10 seconds now.\u00a0 I believe that most of the seizing has stopped but we can\u2019t get her to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCall 911,\u201d the caregiver said. \u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll meet the ambulance at the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

After my phone call to the caregiver and while I was dialing 911, I asked David to go to the hospital with Criss.\u00a0 I gave the 911 rescue personnel the exact address of the church, the details of the situation and my phone number.\u00a0 The ambulance factility\u00a0was close by the church.\u00a0 They assured me that they would be less than two or three minutes for them to get to the church.<\/p>\n

By now children\u2019s church had invaded the gym with basketballs and other ball games.\u00a0 They were not able to move out of the gym because there were too many of\u00a0them and there was only one person to supervise them during this play time.\u00a0 Therefore,\u00a0I thought it would be better to move Criss out to the large hallway that is also used as a lounge.\u00a0 Normally, you would never attempt to move a person in her condition.\u00a0 However, she was in her chair and this would be an easy and safer situation for her.\u00a0 By the time we had moved her chair the few feet into the lounge, the fire department had arrived.<\/p>\n

Before they would take her, they wanted to see her ID and her Social Security card.\u00a0 This was a new requirement from emergency personnel and Cris didn\u2019t have any ID with her.\u00a0 We again called the caregiver.\u00a0 She had the needed information.\u00a0 Once the ambulance arrived, she wanted to have the caregiver give her the same information.\u00a0 The ambulance attendant was insistent that information regarding her medication could not be taken from our database that we carry with us accessed from the Internet but must be in writing.\u00a0 I believe that this was\u00a0HER<\/strong>requirement, only.\u00a0 We have never had anyone ask for this.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t explain how extremely proud I was regarding the performance of our volunteers during this emergency situation.\u00a0 To review quickly, these were the things that went\u00a0smoothly and wer done right\u00a0in the face of a seizure\u00a0emergency.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \"\"<\/a>Our volunteers had been trained to know what should and should not be done in the case of an emergency.<\/li>\n
  2. Timing of the seizure began immediately.<\/li>\n
  3. Our staff and most experienced volunteers took control of the members and relieved me of the concern for their safety.<\/li>\n
  4. Our senior volunteer knew that it would be expected of him\/her to go to the hospital.\u00a0 Before I asked, he had made plans to be at the hospital until I could arrive, after the program.<\/li>\n
  5. Unlike the shepherd who left the 99 to seek after the one sheep, a program director\u00a0doesn\u2019t have the luxury to leave the members and rush to the hospital.\u00a0 However, I can assure that my most experienced volunteer goes.\u00a0 Then after I have insured that all our members have gotten on the bus and they are on their way home, I can go to the hospital.<\/li>\n
  6. After 3 minutes of seizuring, call 911.<\/li>\n
  7. Have medical information ready for the EMT or fire department.<\/li>\n
  8. According to a group of experienced nurses who have worked with us, you need to have a list of medications, information regarding if there are\u00a0allergies or seizures for the EMT.<\/li>\n
  9. Be sure that you have current phone numbers, emergency numbers\u00a0and cell phone numbers for the people in your program.<\/li>\n
  10. Members should be moved from the area as quickly as possible.<\/li>\n
  11. Do not move the person seizuring, unless they are in danger of being hurt where they are.<\/li>\n
  12. Do not attempt to stop the fall.\u00a0 However, you might cushion his\/her head as s\/he hits the floor.<\/li>\n
  13. Do not attempt to pull the tongue out.<\/li>\n
  14. Try to get the person to respond to you by asking questions.\u00a0 Don\u2019t hit or slap the person but try to get a verbal answer from him\/her.<\/li>\n
  15. When you call 911, they will need the exact address of the place where you are at.\u00a0 Be sure that you have this physical address memorized to the point that it will roll off your tongue.\u00a0 If the address contains an East or West, this is essential for the ambulance to know.<\/li>\n
  16. Remain calm.\u00a0 Speak in a measured and calm, quiet voice.\u00a0 In this way, your members will pick up from your cue and they will remain calm.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What are some other things you have learned in dealing with emergencies and seizures?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Worship is the apex of all the many things we do at Special Gathering.\u00a0 Therefore, it is vitally important to us that things go smoothly but there are weeks that are beyond interesting and border on bazaar. A couple of years ago, there was a Sunday at our Melbourne program that was \u201cbeyond interesting.\u201d \u00a0We…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,20,3,40,186,49,16,8,4,41],"tags":[690,21,688,696,7,699,715,560,701,694,689,561,6,687,700,562],"class_list":["post-3221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-church","category-developmental-disabilities","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectual-disability","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-simple-truths","category-spirituality","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-howto","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-seizures","tag-simple-scriptural-truths","tag-simple-truths","tag-spirituality","tag-what-to-do-when-there-is-a-seizure"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Best of Times\/The Worst of Times Part 3 - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Best of Times\/The Worst of Times Part 3 - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Worship is the apex of all the many things we do at Special Gathering.\u00a0 Therefore, it is vitally important to us that things go smoothly but there are weeks that are beyond interesting and border on bazaar. 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