Dr Hilary Greenberg Survives Scuba Accident Because Of CPR
A dream vacation for one East Coast family turned into a nightmare quickly when a scuba diving accident almost took the life of Dr. Hilary Greenberg.
The Doctors talked with a man who saved his wife by performing CPR for 45 minutes before arriving at a hospital. Also, tips for avoiding heat stroke at home.
Dr. Greenberg, her husband and her three children were in Costa Rica on vacation when, only 24 hours into their trip, an underwater surge sent Dr. Greenberg, who was underwater, into a reef, knocking her unconscious. Her husband, Bill, saw his wife laying on the ocean floor without her regulator in her mouth.
He rushed to her side and brought her back to the surface where he started performing CPR on her while in the boat. Although she had already been underwater, without oxygen, for five minutes, Bill said he had to try and save her. For the next 45 minutes, as the boat rushed to shore, Bill performed CPR on his wife.
“It wasn’t easy,” he said of holding out hope she would live after being unconscious for so long. “She didn’t have a pulse, she was blue and her pupils were dilated.”
When she finally reached the hospital, physicians were able to save her life and only one year after the accident she is back to normal.
The Doctors believed it was Bill’s 45 minute CPR that saved his wife’s life. They told The Doctors they want their story to encourage people to learn CPR or at least practice it once in a while. Bill, a doctor himself, said he as trained in CPR but he has not used it for almost 20 years because he works mostly with cosmetic surgeries.
How To Avoid Heat Stroke
While Dr. Bill and Hilary Greenberg’s vacation could have ended worse, another worry The Doctors have for people heading to vacation spots in tropical climates or even when living in hotter climates around the US is heat stroke.
Heat stroke kills around 400 people every single year, most of those people being the elderly. The older you get, the worse your body is at temperature regulation, said The Doctors.
Dr. Andrew Ordon said on hot days, the elderly need to be especially careful when they leave the house. They should always wear sunglasses and a hat to keep the heat off their faces and they need to stay hydrated. Dr. Travis Stork pointed out homes can get very hot as well. For people living in normally cooler climates that experience a hot summer, their homes can heat up very quickly because they may not be used to the heat.
Leave a Reply