A Semmelweis student of dentistry, Borbála Patthy was awarded by the Hungarian National Ambulance Service. At last year’s Sziget Festival she assisted in the resuscitation of a 42-year-old man until the ambulance arrived on site. At that time, she was not yet a medical student, but was preparing for her entrance examination. The man was working at a buffet when he had a sudden heart attack. Borbála Patthy, who was doing a summer job at a nearby restaurant, rushed to help rescuing him.
Borbála Patthy said that many of her family members work in health care, thus she was always interested in medicine. She learnt resuscitation at the age of 15 from the two intensive therapy nurses who were taking care of Borbála’s elderly grandfather. Borbála had to test this skill in reality only once. When this happened she did not think, but she started to react right away, she said.
“This story gave me a lot of emotional strength at the beginning of my career. It was a reinforcement to me that I had made a good decision and that I would not panic in real-life situations, either.”, expressed Borbála Patthy, who recently finished her second semester at the Faculty of Dentistry at Semmelweis University. She feels honoured to be officially awarded by the Hungarian National Ambulance Service for her life-saver activities one year after.
According to Borbála it would be very useful for people to be able to participate in an emergency care training earlier than preparing for the driving licence, preferably during childhood. People should practise a lot in order not to be afraid of providing immediate help to the unconscious injured before the professional help arrives on site.
Eszter Keresztes
Photo: mentok.hu
Translation: Katalin Romhányi
