The ambulance team was on the spot in one minute, where they found the man unconscious, pulse and breathing. They were not allowed to use any of the appliances, as they would risk their own lives. They started resuscitation
With superhuman efforts, great desire, knowledge and experience, perseverance, which, unfortunately, is rarely experienced, the Emergency Medical Team managed to save the life of Sulejman Ćeskin. The dispatch center received a call that one person was injured by lightning in the Lav cemetery, and that he was not showing signs of life. The team that was closest immediately went to the intervention and in one minute were on the spot, where they found a man without consciousness, pulse and breathing. It was raining, lightning, thundering and they were not allowed to use any of the appliances, because in that way they would risk their own lives. They started resuscitation.
The links in the chain
- Considering the close proximity of KUM, we decided on an emergency transport to KUM and we left at 12.50, and arrived at 12.51. At no time did we give up on resuscitation, which we performed during transport and reception. At KUM, our team continued resuscitation, despite the suggestions of colleagues from KUM that nothing can be done. But, only when we got a pulse in the resuscitation room of KUM, we left the patient for further treatment to the staff of KUM, recalls Dr. Edis Rastić, who was part of the ambulance team, and the team also included technicians Alan Ibrulj and Asaf Keresh. Dr. Rastic remembers that he never even thought of declaring the patient dead and giving up resuscitation, although happy endings after a lightning strike are very rare. He did not think about statistics, although the working conditions were very difficult, almost impossible.
- Medicine is one way to heaven, and a thousand is a shortcut to hell. The path to paradise is if done correctly, which requires constant vigilance, effort, effort, will, and a shortcut to hell if one makes a mistake, which is spontaneously imposed and which the doctor and other medical staff are constantly fighting against. The doctor should get rid of the false sense of personal merit for the success of the most delicate interventions, such as cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, which we had in this case. For a successful outcome of resuscitation, which, thank God, was in this case, after the lightning strike of our patient Sulejman, who was successfully resuscitated by the ZHMP team, it is necessary to happily acquire the whole set of conditions at the same time. The position of the doctor, like any other member of the resuscitation team, corresponds to the position of one link in the chain. The significance of an individual is only that he is not the weakest link in the chain. The weakest link is not a minimum requirement, but, on the contrary, obliges the maximum effort and training of all team members and strengthening team spirit, which insists the entire management of ZHMP, led by Dr. Adem Zalihić, through numerous courses implemented in the Educational center of ZHMP with the aim of providing the highest quality and most professional health services to the citizens of KS, in accordance with the most modern customs of emergency medicine. Definitely, for me as a doctor, the fact that after a lightning strike, and a fatal accident that few survive at all, today Sulejman alive and well is an absolute satisfaction and a great motive for further work, says Dr. Rastic and adds that the feeling of participation in a noble act such as is an effort to save someone’s life, much more realistic than a selfish and unrealistic sense of self-promotion. Dr. Rastic emphasizes that the doctor does not treat, he is only a participant in the healing, which requires constant effort and self-examination.
Sulejman Ćeskin remembers little, but he only knows that without Dr. Rastić and the ambulance team, who did everything to cope with his death, he would certainly not be among the living.
- I was hired by a gentleman to arrange a monument in the Leo cemetery. And he was with me. Suddenly it got cloudy and started thundering and just about to start raining. We took shelter under a tree because we were expecting a short summer shower after which we would continue working. I don't remember anything anymore, but later this gentleman who hired me told me that he was thrown to the ground by a lightning strike, but he quickly came to his senses and called an ambulance, says Ćeskin, who after 15 days at KCUS well, there are no more serious consequences other than leg pain and loss of strength.
He claims that he can't work like he used to, he gets tired quickly, but he hopes that it will pass.
Seven buckles
- Everything I was wearing was burnt, pants, necklace, slippers. Even the bank card in the wallet had the code fried. I had seven buckles on my head, claims forty-eight-year-old Sulejman Ćeskin, who was very lucky, because on the same day, a twenty-five-year-old Sarajevan lost his life to a lightning strike while swimming in the sea, in Croatia. After leaving the hospital, Sulejman visited ZHMP and thanked director Zalihić and the team that saved his life.
- We are always happy about situations like this. Since the beginning of this year, ZHMP teams have had 54 successful resuscitations, which is above all averages. We really try to do everything in human power. We also appeal to the citizens not to use the ambulance teams for situations in which their lives are not endangered, because happy endings in emergencies depend on the free teams and their distance from the place of the accident, ie the time they have to arrive, said Adem Zalihić, director Ambulances.
