Two Navy officers stepped in to help treat a man in medical distress and “assisted with life-saving efforts” in Malaga, Spain this month, according to the Navy.
Ensigns Matthew Hedish and Michael Johnson were visiting the Pablo Picasso Museum on July 6 when they noticed a man whose head was shaking involuntarily.
“We came to the end of the museum, and stopped off at the café for just a quick coffee,” Hedish said in a Navy news release. “We noticed a man come in, an older gentleman, and he clearly had some kind of medical situation going on.”
They approached him and used a translating app to inform the man that Hedish had previous experience as an EMT. They then asked if they could check his vitals.
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“I noticed he had some form of neurological condition since he was shaking a little bit,” Hedish said. “The thing that really concerned me from my experience previously as an EMT was when people start nodding off with jitters and not being able to maintain any form of communication. That’s when I realized there was probably something a little bit more involved happening.”
Hedish and Johnson instructed security to clear the cafe so they could tend to him on a couch and administered basic CPR and First-Aid to him. The man eventually agreed to receive emergency service and EMTs arrived to stabilize him.
“In the end, everything worked out fine,” Johnson said. “The on duty EMTs showed up with all their gear, and had brought everything we had requested ahead of time. They handled it from there.”
Hedish and Johnson are both assigned to Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station Naples and the amphibious command ship Mount Whitney, the flagship and command ship of the U.S. 6th Fleet.
The ship supports up to 500 personnel and deploys to 5th Fleet and 6th Fleet, allowing staff to command naval, ground, and air operations.
