Seizure First Aid: What would you do?

Seizure First Aid

A few days ago my morning started off great. I hadn’t spilled anything on myself, the car was running, and I was on time as I headed into work. But that changed when I got to the train station and discovered a woman in need of seizure first aid and onlookers thought she was having a heart attack.

It’s Not NYC Anymore

I didn’t notice people standing around at first. In my defense I lived in NYC for upwards of 15 years. There was always a bunch of people standing around looking at something. But now I live in the sleepy suburbs of NJ outside of Philadelphia. So people standing around gaping at someone at the PATCO station is not so common.

As I paid my fare and walked through the turnstile my curiosity got the better of me. I turned around to find there was a woman on the floor in the midst of a convulsive seizure. I remember I grumbled something about my morning and paid my fare again to go back out the turnstile so I could help.

No Compressions, Please!

When I came into the group of people standing over the woman I discovered that the man who had called 911 seemed to be under the impression that she was having a heart attack. Argh. I found an ID bracelet which the woman had detailed instructions on. I confirmed for the man who called 911 that she was in fact having a seizure and not a heart attack.

I then asked that someone move the purse away from her arm. We stayed on the line with 911 until the police came and I told them what I had seen and what was on the bracelet. Sadly, the woman was in the midst of a second convulsion when the ambulance arrived.

At that point I exited stage left. Paid my fare again and reminded the man who called 911 that he did a good thing.

The situation reminded me how many people don’t know what to do if someone is having a seizure. The experience reminded me how important it is to communicate to the general public what a seizure can look like and what to do to help.

4 C’s of Seizure First Aid

I would encourage you to use the 4 C’s of seizure first aid:

Calm

Clear

Comfort

Call

I love the simplicity of this message. Spread the word.

Maybe next time someone is having a seizure the person calling 911 won’t think she’s having a heart attack. Here’s hoping.

Originally published in 2010.

Jessica K. Smith Founder and CEO; Executive Director

Jessica Keenan Smith is a patient advocate and epilepsy community leader with more than 15 years of experience. As Founder and CEO of Living Well With Epilepsy and Executive Director of ASENT she bridges the gap between the scientific and patient communities, with a particular focus on the needs of the epilepsies. Jessica Keenan Smith is Founder and CEO of Living Well With Epilepsy, an award winning online resource for people affected by epilepsy to share stories and access in-depth information on the disease. Since 2009, Living Well With Epilepsy (https://livingwellwithepilepsy.com) has been featured in Forbes, Wired, NBC, NPR and the cover story of Epilepsy Advocate Magazine and has partnered with companies such as UCB, Lundbeck, Sunovion, Eisai, and more. Ms. Smith is also the Executive Director of the American Society for Experimental Neurotherapeutics (ASENT) (https://asent.org), an organization that brings together leaders from industry, academia, government and advocacy who are engaged in bringing drugs and devices to market across all neurologic disease states. In this role she is responsible for leading a successful scientific journal and annual scientific conference with speakers from all over the world.

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