10/11/2026
This one took me a while to put together...
Not because I didn’t know what happened, but because emergencies involving the people you love are complicated in ways a training scenario can never fully recreate.
In that moment, I wasn’t just someone with an emergency response background. I was a husband watching my wife become more altered than I had ever seen during one of these episodes, a father trying to shield my 5-year-old daughter from what was happening, a son directing my mother to help, and the person everyone was looking to for decisions.
We were also in a remote location in a foreign country. Cell service was unreliable, international calling was limited, and while I knew the island well, I couldn’t have easily provided an exact street address. I knew emergency services existed, but I didn’t know how quickly or reliably I could access them.
So a judgment call had to be made.
Based on her history, what I was seeing, and the resources available, I began care and continued reassessing her. She was altered, but could still follow a direct command to chew and swallow, which factored into my decision to use oral glucose. Now, I know this because of previous incidents. Which put me in a unique situation for treatment. Ordinarily, giving food, drink, or oral glucose to someone who cannot safely swallow creates real aspiration risk. If she had become unconscious or unable to protect her airway, the decision would have been different. The limit and uncertainty of expeditious medical services also had a factor on this decision.
One simple lesson stayed with me.
I told my mother, “Get me a soda.”
She returned with a zero-sugar soda.
She hadn’t done anything wrong. My instruction wasn’t specific enough.
Emergency response isn’t perfect. Training doesn’t eliminate emotion, uncertainty, limited resources, or difficult decisions.
It gives you a framework:
Recognize. Assess. Act. Reassess. Communicate. Adapt.
And afterward, reflect.
Sometimes you do the best you can with what you have—and then you learn from it.
Stay prepared. Always Arrive Alive.
