The call from the Catanzaro operations center, the helicopter rescue team from the Locri base that goes into action on a Sunday in May. A life was suspended on the edge of the abyss due to a serious cardiac arrest.
The crew, led by the courageous pilot Commander Quaia and supported by the technician Lo Presti, the anesthetist resuscitator Andricciola and the critical area nurse Lamantea, responded to the call with the determination of those who fight against time itself.
Once they arrived on site, they found a scene of heroic commitment: the nurses Alessandra Alessi and Marisa Marra together with the Red Cross volunteer, Valentina Alessi, had already thrown themselves into the arduous task of cardiac massage. However, there was no time to waste.
The patient had already undergone three defibrillations under the attentive attention of the 118 team from the Taurianova station, made up of the rescue driver Domenico Ierace, the nurse Carmelo Crea and the doctor Massimo Galluzzo. But life was barely hanging on by a thread.
With unshakable determination, the air rescue team threw themselves into the whirlwind of action. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation began, with ACLS protocols performed with surgical precision. Seventy minutes of extreme tension, of hope mixed with fear, until finally, a heartbeat.
With the patient’s heart moving again, the air ambulance turned into a guardian angel. Transport to the Grand Metropolitan Hospital of Reggio Calabria was the next stop, where resuscitators and hemodynamists waited to carry out the vital coronary angiography study.
The patient was immediately subjected to stenting of the occluded coronary artery, while his heartbeat was now a chorus of hope, a hymn to life being reborn. Once again, the air ambulance has demonstrated its incalculable value.
