EDITOR- We had a man collapse in Ferguson Road on Monday afternoon. He was crossing over Brand Road when he had a seizure in the middle of the road. A small handful of people who dropped everything to help this man that they did not even know, and I just want to pass out a special thank you to them all!
Devan from Sanlam, an ex-paramedic was absolutely fantastic, so cool, calm and collected the entire time and ensured that the man we knew only as Bheko was taken care of at all times.
Caleb and his friend helped to move Bheko to the pavement and also stood with him until help arrived. They held umbrella’s over him when it rained and spoke to him often to make sure he was responding.
The ADT guard and Blue Security who tried to help getting ambulances to us, and the lady who also helped and stayed with him.
We waited for over two and a half hours for an ambulance and during this time Bheko had another six seizures. He was lying on the pavement covered by umbrellas. Out of desperation and also because he was not responding to us at all at one stage we phoned Ceron, a paramedic who lives on Ferguson Road who was there to help with medication to stabilise him and speed up an ambulance who was responding to another problem in Pinetown.
Collectively the group phoned the various ambulance services every 30 minutes and every time we got given a different story, which was very frustrating!
Once the ambulance arrived they took him immediately to King Edward for further treatment.
I am just so grateful that these kind people took the time out of their day to stand in the pouring rain to help a man that none of them knew. They were with him from the very beginning right to the end when he was loaded into the ambulance. It is just so amazing to know that there are people out there who will go out of their way to help. For me this has restored a bit of faith in humanity!
Helen Thompson
Glenwood
