Lee didn’t even want to think about the end of her vacation. Working in the intensive care unit since the pandemic started was exhausting to say the least. She sat in the booth of a cafe contemplating her career. “Maybe a change of scenery” she thought. She could think clearly not understanding the conversations around her. She spoke enough Spanish to get by, however locals in Mexico City spoke too fast for her to comprehend. “I can move back home to Florida, mom and dad would embrace me with open arms. It’s a far cry from the Windy City, but anything is an upgrade at this point.” She spoke to herself. Lee had been working as a charge nurse on the intensive care unit of her hospital in Chicago. A list of problems included low pay, short staff, and long hours putting her life at risk combating the pandemic. With more lives lost than saved, it can take an emotional toll of anyone. As she contemplated her next career move, a crowd of people started to circle of one the tables nearby. Their faces full of concern, everyone chattering, and one lady yelling in Spanish. “LLAMA UNA AMBULANCIA AHORA!” Lee rose from her seat in the booth and walked over to the crowd in the cafe, she knew ambulancia meant ambulance. As she walked over she noticed a man on the ground by the table, unconscious and not breathing. A local that worked at the cafe had already started CPR and was in the middle of giving chest compressions. Chest compressions are when your hands are over the person’s heart and pressing down on the chest with all of your weight. This is to maintain blood to the brain.

Lee moved the bystanders out of the way and pushed her way forward towards the unconscious man and cafe worker. “Do you need help!?” She knelt down next to the unconscious man and checked his airway. The cafe worker still doing compressions, grunting as if he was out of breath. “I am here, let me help!” He panted, “Senora no entiendo”. He looked almost annoyed. I knew that meant he didn’t understand me. The cafe worker was a middle aged Hispanic male with black wavy hair and bulging muscles. He was focused on saving this man’s life. His gaze retuned up at me as I crossed my hands over one another, signaling that I was ready to assume the compressions. He was sweating now and his compressions were starting to slow down. CPR was universal, he didn’t have to understand what I was saying to back off and let me start compressions. The man on the floor was a tint of blue at this point, which was not a great sign. As the cafe worker stopped and backed off, I resumed compressions to save the stanger’s life. As I did this, the worker ran to the counter and grabbed a bag. He opened it and took out a small machine. It was an AED, the next step in CPR. We were synchronized, the cafe worker and I. As he placed the pads as I continued pounding on this unconscious man’s chest, we flowed together like a team. We didn’t even have to say a word. He signaled me to stop compressions, the AED gave a shock, and he signaled me to continue. The beat to “Staying Alive” by The Bee Gees always helped me stay on track when doing CPR. It was a great beat to give chest compressions to. I didn’t realize I was singing it out loud in all of the craziness that was happening. The cafe man smiled at me and signaled me to stop compressions again. The AED delivered a shocked and like magic the unconscious man started to breathe. We checked for a pulse and noticed his color started to come back as well. We both sighed in relief simultaneously.