We will be reporting on lives saved around the world since our first documented life saved here in Singapore.
Her co-workers feared the worst when they found her collapsed on the floor.
“I found her laying on the floor, she was quite discolored, and truthfully – can I say this? – I thought she was dead,” Sunny Hawkins, a co-worker and former maternity ward nurse, said.
“We all thought she was,” fellow co-worker Lori Humphrey said.
Hawkins used a breathing mask to force oxygen into Niemeyer’s lungs. A co-worker did chest compressions to keep her blood pumping. A defibrillator had been brought over by the time the paramedics arrived, a minute or two after Humphrey made the 911 call.
Six days later, Niemeyer woke up in Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia.
“The team really deserves some credit, I’ll tell you,” Niemeyer said. “It is amazing. Until I woke up, they didn’t know how long I’d been without oxygen.”
Paramedics revived Niemeyer with a defibrillator and restored a pulse before taking her to the hospital, where she was intentionally kept unconscious for days. She now has a pacemaker.
Hawkins insists the entire thing was a miracle: Someone found Niemeyer before she had gone too long without oxygen, the safety officers were nearby, the paramedics arrived immediately, and Niemeyer was taken to a hospital that specializes in cardiac care.
But all that shouldn’t take away from the ability of the average person to save a life, Hawkins added.
“Don’t think you have to do it perfectly,” she said. “If you think you can intervene and help someone, err on that side.”
