Is there a Doctor on the plane??

[Hoppinggreen]

I had an experience yesterday that was a bit "is there a Doctor on the plane?", although obviously not as impressive and I was wondering if anyone else has had similar, even if it was just something very minor, maybe a bit niche that you happened to know or can do.
I popped into our local petrol station to collect a parcel yesterday and there was a man holding a piece of paper and speaking to the attendant. As walked in the attendant looked at me and said I have no idea what he is saying he doesn't speak English, I don't suppose you know what he is saying do you?
The man turned to me and started speaking an EU language I speak very well.
Directions given, all sorted.
I am not talking about an actual Doctor on a plane situation here or anything lifesaving just a moment when someone said "I don't suppose you happen to know ............. do you?"

HE was a First Aider, that should have said

i seem to have been in the right place right time a few times.

RTC on my way back from a shift in ED. Police but no ambulance on scene as police had been chasing a stolen car that had crashed. this was before the days of police receiving medical training. i offered assistance and assessed the car thief as he was being held to the tarmac by a coppers boot to his chest (as i say a very long time ago). there was nothing wrong with the car thief other than indignation he'd been caught. got a thank you letter from the chief constable.

homeless street drinker not breathing in the street once. loads standing around doing little. i dragged him into a position ready to start CPR and thank fully he started breathing before i started. waited with him until the ambulance arrived. got a hug off the street drinker and a thank you for listening to his life story while we waited for the ambulance.

at an event with a firmly non medic friend. drunk guy tripped and fell flat on his face. friend volunteered me to help. he'd broken his nose but refused for his friends to take him to hospital. gave advice to his friends on what to look out for/when to insist on hospital. got a free drink from the event organiser.

staying in a hotel with a police friend. spotted a very drunk woman being helped out a taxi by two men. something really felt off with it all. we both went over and offered assistance. turned out our instincts were correct as she didn't know them, wasn't booked into that hotel and couldn't remember how she had ended up in the taxi with them. police were called, but as the men claimed they thought she'd said this was her hotel and were just being 'good samaritans' there was little that could be done. they helped the woman back to her actual hotel and to find her friends. i'm certain we prevented a serious sexual assault or worse that night. got a free bottle of wine from the duty manager.

probably more if i think hard as i do seem to just be around when things like that go on.

never been asked to help on a plane and my entry level recorder skills from infants school have never been called upon either.

I fainted (not typical for me, but it had been a long day and my totm) after a university night out, at my boyfriend's house. There were several of us there for an after party. I happened to faint right in front of a nurse, who wasn't one of my fellow students but a girlfriend of a friend - her first night out with us. I hit my head really badly in the fall, smashed my face, lots of grazes and ultimately a black eye.

Had a situation in a campsite near Budapest once where the owner spoke only Hungarian and a little bit of German. I managed to have a conversation in very pidgin German with him, translating to English to help a non German or Hungarian speaker new arrival solve an issue!

My brother was taken ill on a flight so they put out a request for a doctor. There was one on board, and he was my brother’s own GP!

@SANEFNE oh god, that woman getting out of the taxi story is awful. So glad you were there.

Gardening nerd here, My gardening nerd friend and I often helpfully chip in to answer “what’s that plant?” whether the questioner wants us to or not. (Well, half the time the people on the stands have no idea what’s what. And we are showoffs).

DH got called no less than 4 times on a flight recently, I was hoping for an upgrade on the return flight at least, But not a sausage. Experience shows BA are most grateful.

What did they have?

police friend and response cops were desperately trying to find something they could lock the men up for. no drugs on them when searched (and their room was searched for drugs and anything suggesting a pre planned abduction), they weren't especially drunk and their story of trying to 'help' couldn't be disproved.
we were so pleased the police were able to locate her friends and deliver her back to them safely.

I came across an accident at dusk a few miles from home. A motorbike had hit a deer and the pillion passenger was unconscious. The car following the motorbike had stopped and were phoning 999. When I arrived the chap phoning was doing very well although his English was limited and he was unfamiliar with the area. But he was asked by the handler where we were. I was given the phone and I explained which A road we were on and 1/2 mile from a certain village.
Before the phone call finished someone else stopped who said he was a first aider. He took charge of the casualties very confidently. This chap & I knew each other by sight as he was a life guard at the swimming pool (15 miles from the scene) where my scuba club trained. We worked together to help rider & passenger. (I had scuba first aid too). Next to arrive were 3 young people who rang 999 again before talking to us. When we asked why, they said they were doctors - so we said 999 had already been rung and ambulance on the way. They then left. The next person to stop was a chap in his 60s wearing a dinner jacket with a white bow tie dangling untied. He breezed in & tried to take over, straightening a leg which had been at a funny angle and started to take off the pillion's helmet. The lifeguard stopped him. The smart chap said he was a doctor (obviously on the way out to dinner). Fortunately the ambulance arrived then & took over. Motorbike rider & passenger were taken to hospital.
The lifeguard and I then lifted the two halves of the deer onto the verge to clear the scene. I was glad it was dark by then and couldn't see what we were doing.
Ever after that my husband and I called the road 'deer alley'. It was several weeks after the accident before the deer carcass was either covered by vegetation or eaten by something.

Istanbul airport a few months ago, guy from S. America asking what Q to get into. Staff shrugging saying they didn't speak Spanish. I rock up at that moment & tell the chap in Spanish that he actually is in Istanbul now, his destination, and the Q we were joining were for people leaving Istanbul again.

I hope he got on ok.

I was waiting for my train on the concourse of a London station one evening when a young man who was slightly pissed came up and asked me if I knew how to say something in Spanish as he was texting his new girlfriend and wanted to tell her she was hot 🤣

I did know luckily for him! I did wonder why he picked me to ask though 🤔

I went into a takeaway and it was apparent that the only customer in there was quite unwell. Having a heart attack actually. The counter staff were a little stunned so I ended up sitting with the chap until the ambulance arrived and helped him into the ambulance. On returning to the takeaway I was met at the door by the counter staff and he thrust a bag of curries into my hands. I was somewhat confused as I hadn’t even placed my own order. “That’s his curry” he said indicating toward the ambulance. “I don’t think he’ll want this right now” I said. “Neither do I” countered the staff member before turning heel and leaving me standing on the pavement clutching the curries and watching the departing ambulance. I ate one of the curries!

DH was on the passenger list as "Dr" when travelling home from a work trip and he was asked by the crew to help with a passenger who had fallen ill. He explained that it was an academic title and he had no medical qualifications, but he did have some medical training as a member of the TA so agreed to help anyway as there was nobody else available. A quick check of the lady's hand luggage at his suggestion revealed some tablets that she was supposed to have taken but had forgotten. She was right as rain after half an hour. And DH left the plane with a bottle of champagne.😊

I was waiting my turn in the hair salon when another customer was being quite surly and rude. She left and the salon staff commented that they didn’t know what had gotten into her and she wasn’t usually like that.

An alarm went off in my head and I ran out after her and asked if she was diabetic. Turns out she was and was in a hypo, she was just about to drive home too so I like to think I prevented a possible accident there.

She drank a carton of orange juice and was soon feeling better and couldn’t apologise enough to the salon girls.

DH is a police sergeant. Years ago 2 very tall well built young men started a scuffle on a packed train, sucking teeth and pushing eachother. DH was in the loo with little DS. I quickly knocked on the door and rolled my eyes towards the men. DH at only 5’11” walked up to them and opened his coat (showing his warrant card). He ordered them each to go in opposite directions and a potential fight was prevented. The people behind DH must’ve wondered what power this not very big, middle aged man possessed to make these giants act like children and shuffle away.

Love a bit of teamwork!

Odd skill set? Well I went through a spell where I was rather good a repairing Dyson vacuums of all things. Particularly the older upright DC model. I appear to have gotten a reputation as a Dyson whisperer and word got around, I ended up with various friends, work colleagues and neighbours randomly approaching me with their vacuums. Thing is Dyson was originally designed to be very accessible for user servicing and minor repair so it was actually pretty easy and I had a great success rate. Went on for a couple of years until the newer models became more common and I stepped back from it. Never took a penny. Happy in the knowledge I kept some stuff working and out of the skip for a bit longer!

I have a friend amongst my group of mum friends, she is a very sweet, mild mannered, conservatively dressed, slight lady. You absolutely wouldn’t know it to look at her but she is highly trained in martial arts. Her father was an officer in the armed forces and so she grew up on army bases around the world and he insisted she learned to physically defend herself from a young age.

Well we were out for Christmas drinks in London one evening and she was the one that the misjudged bag snatcher tried to rob.

She brought him down and restrained him entirely herself whilst we were all screaming in shock. Nearby bouncers at a pub offered to assist her in restraining him until the Police arrived but she declined their help because she had the matter in hand.

That was about 8 years ago and it still thrills me to reminisce about the incident. Thieving scum bag couldn’t have picked a worse target.

Is anyone here a marine biologist?

Lego is a strange reward!

One of my colleagues in the school staffroom choked on a watermelon seed. Despite the compulsory up-to-date First Aid certificate demanded of all teachers, everyone sat there stunned, while the poor woman choked and gagged and turned a variety of colours. I leapt up and performed the Heimlich manoeuvre, whereupon the watermelon seed made a return visit. She was very grateful. One of my many medical events in 47 years of teaching, which included several epileptic fits, a couple of severe asthmatic attacks and a major anaphylactic incident.

My brother finished medical school and went on holiday with some mates from home before starting his first job, this was the only time he's been in that situation and he was like 'oh fuck...' luckily there was an ED doc on the plane too who went up, so DB went and asked if he needed any assistance - phew lol

I had a similar incident, I was sat outside a nightclub waiting for my friend. I wasn't feeling too great so went out for some air and to get away from the crowd. I witnessed two young lads walking a very drunk young woman out of the nightclub. She was giggling but didnt seem to have full control/awareness of the situation. I approached them, asked her if she knew them etc and who she was with. Transpires she didn't know them and had gone to the club with some friends who were still inside. I told the men to let go of her, they were also quite drunk, and I took her back in to the club and walked around with her until I found her friends. I often think that I rescued her that night from being taken advantage of.

Had an experience similar to this, but not quite the same. Was in the train station in Sydney airport on a long layover (bizarrely empty at the time) and an elderly man collapsed on the concrete platform. I am not medically trained at all, btw.

It was only me on the platform at the time but thankfully I knew what to do as I had just completed a first aid course a few weeks prior. Scary when you have to put what you learnt into practice, but thank god I knew what to do as nobody else was in sight! Managed to call emergency services and get help but I’ll always be grateful of first aid courses