Heroic | Woman heading home ends up in hospital helping victim

Heroic | Woman heading home ends up in hospital helping victim

May 23, 2019 0 By Horace Mills

Nadecia Murray wants to be remembered as someone who goes beyond the call of duty to help people.

She was in Haiti following the earthquake that killed hundreds of thousands of people in 2010. She was in St Ann this month when a huge branch from a cotton tree fell on a motor car and trapped 80-year-old passenger, Gloria Bascoe, who eventually died.

Murray recalled being on her way from work on the afternoon of May 11 when she stumbled upon the tree incident outside Mystic Mountain, not far from the town centre in Ocho Rios, St Ann.

Without knowing that she was being watched, Murray aborted her home-bound plans, turned in the direction opposite to her home, and ended up at St Ann’s Bay Hospital, where she and other personnel tried to save the elderly woman who had just been pulled from the wreckage of the motor car.

News reports, which said firefighters pulled the woman out of the crumpled vehicle, apparently overlooked one of the Good Samaritans – Murray.

An anonymous witness to the rescue efforts, in a letter to The Beacon, explained what she saw:

Everybody seemed to be panicking.

It was a normal civilian (Murray) who was on her way from work at Dolphin Cove who threw down her bag and grabbed some gloves from an ambulance that was there.

She went into the crumpled car, and got the elderly lady on a spine board, and took charge of the scene, and took the elderly lady out, and started CPR on her.

Nobody seems to recognise that young lady and her bravery.

If it was not for her, the elderly lady would have been in the car trapped much longer.

It was heartwarming to see that young woman spring into action without even the slightest hint of fear.

When The Beacon eventually located Murray, who hails from the small community of Epworth in St Ann, she admitted to doing what is described in the letter – plus more.

She actually boarded the ambulance, and assisted with CPR while the elderly woman was being taken to St Ann’s Bay Hospital, where she (Murray) previously worked.

Murray disclosed that she is a trained advanced emergency medical technician, who recently was promoted to Manager of the Rescue and Safety Department at Dolphin Cove attraction in St Ann.

She said jumping into action to help people has become a norm for her.

“I am never off duty; I just have to make sure that I abide by the protocols that govern the profession,” the 35-year-old said. “At the end end of the day, I want to be remembered as someone who is always willing to help people.”

Murray added that it is never a nice feeling when someone dies while being helped in emergencies – as in the case of the elderly woman in St Ann.

“It is never a good feeling when you actually try to help and the person doesn’t make it…,” Murray said. “But, at the end of the day, it gives you a bit of comfort to know that you were actually there, you actually helped, and you actually did what you were trained to do.”

Murray, who has served in both the public and private sectors, in Jamaica as well as the Turks and Caicos Islands, said her profession is deserving of better recognition locally.

She also wants more people to learn emergency responses. “Persons should learn even just the basic – how to do first aid, how to do CPR, how to stop a bleed, how to do basic stabilization until the emergency services get to the scene,” Murray added.

She said it is disturbing that many people are more interested in posting grisly images of victims on social media instead of helping the victims.

Murray, in the meantime, said the highest point of her career, so far, is the help she rendered to several people in Haiti following the devastating 2010 earthquake there. She travelled to that country as part of a healthcare team dispatched by Jamaica’s Ministry of Health.

By Horace Mills, Journalist


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