On February 19, 2022 WCCCA dispatcher Dina Cop received a call to her workstation from a highly emotional caller reporting his wife was possibly having a stroke.  While assessing situation, Dina realized his emotional state and what he was saying didn’t feel like a stroke call.  Following her instincts, she asked him to check his wife again for breathing and the caller realized his she was no longer breathing and was dying.  Frantic, the caller begged Dina for help.

Knowing they needed to act quickly, Dina used calming techniques, speaking slowly and clearly and letting the caller know that together they could help his wife until help arrived.  She began giving him TCPR instructions, talking him through his emotional state.  He complied and began CPR.  The call lasted 8 minutes as medics raced to their home.  Dina used her skills to keep him calm, counting compressions and encouraging him to continue the entire time.

A few days after the call, Dina found out that family members of the patient were trying to find her.  The patient’s son was able to track her down on Facebook and sent her the following message: “You guys saved my mom’s life, only 2% of people live through what she had” and advised that his mom was already home from the hospital. “Thank you so much”

As Dina looks back on the call, she says “I was so proud of how my caller realized he could do something and did a great job on compressions”  She says during her RQI simulation that quarter, she had worked with her coach on hysterical callers and she was able to use techniques they had practiced  to help guide the caller to CPR instructions.

Together, the team created the chain of survival and another life was saved.