An Emergency Call

“Victims have a 50 – 75 per cent chance of being resuscitated if a shock from the AED is administered to their heart within five minutes of collapsing,” shares Nitin Jadhav,manager,Human Resources & Security. Jadhav,along with other hotel employees,spent three hours in learning how to use the machine correctly. The machine issues out instructions of placing pads on the patient’s heart,assessing whether a shock treatment is required and then administering the shock. The hotel is one of the first in the city to take this step of training the staff. “A guest or co-worker could suddenly go into cardiac arrest and may need AED trained personnel right away,” says Jaswinder Narang,GM,Le Meridien. The training imparted to the staff included CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) too. Associates from different departments,across all shifts,attended the session. “There are many steps to be followed. Though we have hospitals nearby,it is impossible to predict the traffic situation. A guest’s health is important to us and we will be doing the paramedic’s job till help arrives. We even discussed this with a doctor at Jehangir hospital and he was very encouraging,” shares Jadhav.

One AED machine costs two lakh rupees. The hotel has three such machines,and by the end of June,all staff members will be trained how to use them. “That means over 200 people here will be able to respond to an emergency,” Jadhav adds. “It gives us satisfaction that we are equipped to help the guest when need arises,” says Arbind Singh,assistant F&B manager. “We learnt how to check the pulse,the functioning of senses and how to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and CPR,” he adds.

The AED machines are currently kept at the lobby,the health club and the Time Office. “They are strategically placed so that no time is lost in attending to an emergency case,” says Sanjay Singh,F&B manager,who also attended the training session. This concept is their way of setting an example. “We have even submitted a list of names and numbers of employees who are trained in this first aid to the police,” reveals Jadhav. “So if I’m staying in Vishrantwadi and there is an emergency case,I can be called to render first aid till the ambulance arrives,” he explains,adding,“This is our way of saying that we care for our society.”