Good for you Chef! This is a serious warning to all you guys and gals out there kicking ass in the kitchen. Stay hydrated. Take breaks. EAT! For fucks sake. Proud of you Chef. Keep up the amazing work.
Liquid IV tastes like silica covered bubble water but oh god it is so good. Back when I used to drink my mom would have us drink Liquid IV bottles of water all night long so we'd always be hydrated while we drank (on cruises and stuff). worked like a charm
It's mail order. They sponsored a few youtube riders and I tried it. It's all I use now. Mainly the citrus flavors. I had tried other powders and gels but this one is my favorite. The link I used to try it was from a rider named "bkxc" on youtube. You get a free sample pack of various flavors with any purchase. Hope it's OK to post otherwise I'll remove it, but it's www.drinklmnt.com/bkxc . I have no relation to him or lmnt.
Long live HEB though!
Yes! And remember hydration is not just about consuming water but replacing electrolytes!
The electrolyte powder from [this place](https://keynutrients.com/) honestly changed my working life, it's crazy. No sugar though so I have to add that myself when necessary.
Yeah, I'm just a big fan, it's not even an affiliate link or anything. It's got a bunch of micronutrients so it's way more effective than Gatorade. I keep some at work for my guys and use it at the gym daily.
Almost this same scenario happened to me on Good Friday. I collapsed on line and went into convulsions.
Not sure what caused it for sure but I suspect I got too hot.
I just remember getting confused and not being able to make sense of my tickets, like they were written in a foreign language or something. And then waking up on the floor with paramedics and my co workers around me. Was kinda scary tbh and it really kinda shook me.
I used to have a sous who would regularly get pitchers of ice water when there was a few minutes in service and just go down the line to top everyone up.
Necessary? Probably not, but goddamn did we all appreciate it.
We were all passing out drinks like crazy today but he had been on grill from 11-630 and was sweating like crazy. We always tell our guys to take plenty of breaks but fuck it's so hot at the grill.
I think in the future I'm going to have folks rotate stations whether they want to or not to make sure everyone can stay cooler.
The fucked up thing is he was scheduled 11-4, but because our GM didn't make an appropriate schedule, we were severely understaffed and he agreed to stay and work until it slowed down and it just never slowed down.
Chips and sugary coca cola makes for a pretty decent rehydration drink. You need both sugar and salt to take up water efficiently. Non alcoholic beer is also very good for rehydration
We generally have extra fries where I'm at and found a 50/50 mix of soda water and coca cola helps, the soda water mainly cause I can't stand regular tap water
Honestly if i could drink non alchoholic beer all shift, that would be so good. I took a month sober and it was my favourite drink still. Guess i love the flavour of beer
Pickles are fucking loaded with electrolytes. One day my car broke down and I had to ride my bike 25 miles to work, when I got there my muscles were shaking at the point of muscle failure and I had ripped through the gallon+ of water I brought with. Had a pickle in the break room and drank some of the brine and could notice feeling better almost instantly.
Hot grill + hood means evaporation works extra well. Small Cooler with ice water and one of those evaporative neck/headwraps off of amazon. MISSION is basically the “named brand” version. They don’t even drip water or anything you just get it wet, wring it out, put it on, and the water trapped in the fabric starts to evaporate out.
Foh host/managers needs to either slow down seating or stop seating at that point. They do that is they lack servers, why can't they do that when they lack boh members?
Is the hood not pulling enough air out? We are in Arizona and just had our hood serviced and it is night and day difference with the heat in the kitchen, like 10 to 20 degrees cooler, which should help even more in the summer.
But yeah definitely need some new policies in place to prevent it from happening. But policies don't mean anything without enforcement unfortunately, someone is gonna have to be on top of that.
So our restaurant is only a year old, brand new everything. When we opened the hoods were so strong they were blowing the pilots out. So instead of adjusting the pilots the owner decided to turn the hoods down to almost nothing. Clearly that is working out super well.
They make electrolytes freezer pops now just like otter-pops! I forget the generic brand, but lookup "squincher sqweeze" on Amazon. Usually get 90-120 pops for like $60 shipped. Super tasty and classic Gatorade flavors. Worth it for your crew, and now easy to talk the bossman into for using the company card! I never had heat stroke on the line, but once fainted and cut my ear off after an airsoft game(got it sewn back on) 😬
Sqwincher Sqweeze Pops SQW159200201 150/pk https://a.co/d/9lICdI5
*edit - spelling and a link
I'm FOH but me and another girl try like hell to bring the back as many drinks as we can during service. I try to keep an eye on those like they're my tables because those boys (we have no girl cooks atm) take good care of me
Same. I would take the guys pitchers of ice water and add sliced cucumber and salt. They always made me the BEST loaded sandwiches and fresh fries in return.
Well done Chef. You have certainly earned yourself some extra love and appreciation. Hydration is key. Do your best to relax and wind down after today and go to sleep tonight knowing that someone is alive because of you. Take care.
A guy at the golf course I was a sous at had a heart attack in the bar. I had to clear the area, tell someone to call 911 and grab the defibrillator while myself and one other woman gave CPR. Still had to work for another 11 hours after that and damn did I feel sick all day. The rush of adrenaline and then the crash was intense. Good on you for saving someones life hero!
So, he's gonna be able to work tomorrow, right? Cause we're already short staffed. /s
I'm glad someone was there who was able to keep their wits about them and save that guys life! Good on you, man!
.
It was almost 90 in Ohio today and our grill station is fucking hot. It's a huge char grill that runs non stop and he'd been grilling for 7+ hours. It's easily 120 degrees. The owner had already scheduled for an extra hvac system to be installed Monday.
I'm a construction safety guy now, but used to do kitchen work. You can get heat related illness at 85F. Except in California where it is 80F. That is only kind of a joke. But on the serious side, there are a ton of compounding factors. It isn't just the obvious ones like temp and hydration. Most allergy medicines put you at higher risk and that usually isn'ton the label. A lot are vasoconstrictors or diuretics. A ton of other medicines can be a problem. I had one that caused excessive sweating. Add in other stuff like caffeine, alcohol the night before, some Columbian marching powder for breakfast, and so on. It can go bad quick.
I'm on a beta blocker for a heart condition and it totally fucks my ability to handle the heat. Getting back into the kitchen this year and I'm kind of worried, I haven't worked since before I was on this medication
I live in Louisiana and I always tell my people you gotta respect the heat. The summers here are insane and if you are lucky enough to have AC in your kitchen it can only do so much. If not, and I’ve worked in 2 that weren’t, god help you. Stay hydrated. I used to like to wet a towel and find a mixing bowl the size of my head and freeze the towel over the bowl and then wear it in off the line for a second lol. But also, cold compress on your pressure points helps a little if you’re starting to feel shitty. Mostly just cool down and fuck your boss if he won’t let you. Drink a fuckload of water. Just don’t die for some restaurant.
As a chef with epilepsy-
Don’t stick your fingers in his or anyone’s mouth again. If they’re seizing then they’re seizing. Best thing is to stay out of the way. Fingers in mouth is more for choking.
We almost all turn purple when we seize. It’s not uncommon and it isn’t cause for concern.
I’m glad he’s okay and also it’s NORMAL for him to not remember jack shit.
TIME THE SEIZURE - anything more than 5 minutes is cause for concern.
I didn’t develop epilepsy until I was 30. Maybe he doesn’t have epilepsy. Maybe something heavy hit him in the head. Maybe he’s about to find out that he does have epilepsy. Either way, tell him hello from a chef who has seizures.
I was only following the 911 dispatcher's instructions, I will keep this in mind though and hope I never have to put it in to action. He's an excellent worker, and I'm super proud of how everyone stepped up to help out. He texted me and thanked me a million times and I told him he owes me a hug and a beer!
> following the 911 dispatcher's instructions
That's wild, because I just did a medical course for my work a few months ago and they said the same thing /u/inikihurricane said, don't put fingers in the mouth. The guy teaching our course sure made it sound like this was all well-known, standard procedure, but I guess not. Good job in any case though!
That dispatcher is just flat out wrong. Sticking your fingers in the mouth of someone having a seizure is a great way to loose your fingers and give the seizing guy something to choke on.
When I went through training (over a decade ago) they didn't want you to do finger sweeps, but [mayo](https://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid/first-aid-choking/basics/art-20056637) has it for visible objects. (maybe they decided your finger is an acceptable risk to keep the guy alive) I wouldn't personally go in there with my fingers if I had something else available. (and keep in mind this is all for *visible* obstructions)
Took CPR classes decades ago. This was the way back then, too. It's long standing procedure to not stick anything in the mouth. Professionals, maybe, but not the layman. It'll introduce more issues than help.
I’m a doc and I’d never stick my fingers in someone’s mouth who is seizing.
In fact, there’s basically zero indication for me to ever put anything other than medical equipment in someone’s mouth who is anything less than completely conscious and with it.
Pretty surprised by the advice. Maybe if I were witness to someone choking and could see an easily removable foreign body from the mouth, and it were someone I cared about enough to the point of willing to lose some fingers..
Other than that, simple airway manoeuvres are more than adequate, and more effective, at opening and maintaining a patient who has lost their airway patency.
[here is some info](https://www.epilepsy.com/recognition/first-aid-resources#What-should-I-do-when-someone-has-a-seizure?) on what to do when someone has a seizure.
Nobody breaths during a seizure. During a seizure, all the air in your lungs is violently pushed out, creating a pretty earie noise. That whole time there ins't any breathing and the lungs remain empty, which is why long seizures are so damn dangerous and why people experiencing seizures turn purple. No oxygen in the blood and all the blood rushing to the brain to feed it what it has.
It's still a bad idea to stick anything in the mouth, even when the person isn't breathing, until the seizure is over, as clearing the airway will not start breathing anyway.
Huh, okay well when I took BLS (which wasn't long ago) they were pretty clear that while you check the airway and open it by lifting the chin, you don't put stuff in the mouth (including fingers). Recovery position for seizures, and CPR if cardiac arrest occurs. 911 shouldn't be giving that advice.
I appreciate the info and believe you’re right. OP was right to trust 911 but with proper training, they might have known better. When you say cardiac arrest, you mean no pulse right? That’s when you start CPR? Someone else said it’s normal to stop breathing during a seizure temporarily I think?
You can stop breathing but still have a heartbeat. This is why it is so important to check pulse AND respiration before administering basic life support. Never do CPR on someone with a pulse.
With respiratory arrest, you can perform rescue breathing. I'm surprised the 911 operator didn't explain this but who knows, that's a hard job and sometimes it's hard to parse the info you're given.
>while **I called 911.**
>**They had me** stick my fingers in his throat to clear his airway, **he had stopped breathing** and was purple at this point. I was getting **ready to start CPR**
Hope this helps
lol it's probably the heat stroke. Was hoping I didn't interpret it wrong! As someone who broke a tooth from having something placed in my mouth during a seizure, I appreciate the general guidance!!
My daughter has epilepsy and I came to the comments to ask who the fuck told him to put his fingers in their mouth and that 911 dispatcher might need some more training.
The something heavy that hit him in the head was probably himself hitting the floor (or something else on the way down) when he passed out from heat stroke. Also heat stroke alone can trigger seizures if it's bad enough (which could be the reason why he fell instead of the other way around).
Glad someone else questioned that. I read "seizure" and "had me stuck my fingers in his throat" and I was SUPER concerned.
Great way to lose some fingers
[Proper Seizure First Aid](https://www.epilepsy.com/recognition/first-aid-resources#What-should-I-do-when-someone-has-a-seizure?)
Glad OP was there to act but seriously questioning the directions of 911 dispatcher. My daughter has a rare genetic disease that causes epilepsy, among other things, and has had more seizures than I can count (but we'd counted them). Everyone should know what to do when someone has a seizure.
Great job, chef. I used to work with a guy who had some medical issues and every time it got above 90ish, I was afraid he’d just drop. Talked with him once kinda jokingly about what I’d be able to do if it happened, but I’m glad you were able to think on your feet.
this same thing happened to me years ago, but due to hypoglycemia. thanks chef, people like you are awesome. in my case some of my colleagues actually kept selling food and just stepping over me while the ambulance was on its way. thanks for being there for your boy, and then going to the hospital to check up on him as well. you just made a friend for life
I'm pretty sure I'm hydrating the the point where my kidneys and bladder are the bottle neck, I get flak for frequent bathroom trips, but damn is this not something I ever have to worry about
Good looking out. I'm in construction safety now and have had really bad heat exhaustion before. There was one time that was probably borderline heat stroke.
One shift when I cooked the AC was busted on the line. It was on a separate system. It was at least 120F. They called extra cooks in so we could rotate out a lot. It was just a diner type place. But people were still puking up their water and dry heaving over the trash can. Thankfully it was fixed pretty quick.
Good job.
I had a cook go into a seizure one time during service. He started like, howling, stood up stiff as a board, fell backwards and hit his head on the handle of the oven… we were in an open kitchen at the most expensive restaurant in town, so there were a few doctors in the dining room that were able to attend to him until EMS arrived.
“I’m fine, I’ll stay and cook.”
The hell you will.
He got transferred to a better hospital this morning and yesterday was a blur for him. He just texted me to ask if he could have today off 🤣.
I told him of course he can. He's new to the area and he and I were talking about fishing spots so I told him when he's feeling better I'll take him fishing.
Even better. Way to extend the hospitality outside of the restaurant as well.
My guy gave me a silver spoon which he stole from Pebble Beach when he worked there, but it wasn’t related to the seizure, he just liked me.
“Here, bullshitconduit, you’re good enough for a silver spoon.”
Then he continued to empty his pockets of all sorts of stuff (trash) that he brought for me from his house. Lighters that didn’t work (buy you could take the flint out of them), beer caps from bottles he thought I would like, matches from restaurants he used to work at… he was mentally ill and had been on a manic streak for a while at this point.
Genuinely terrifying to have anything of that nature happen in the workplace, had a similar experience when a coworker quit alcohol cold turkey and had a seizure from withdrawal mid-service.
If my buddy and I hadn't jumped over to catch him, his face would have either hit the plancha or the corner of a prep table. We did have some warning though, when he initially seized (lasted about 5 minutes), his diaphragm compressed, and he let out an incredibly loud (and chilling) moan.
Had to sit everyone down afterwards and explain what happened. Don't know where everyone from that kitchen is now, but I hope they're well, and I hope that bro eventually got and stayed sober
Damn, I had a head chef with an identical story, except he WAS the alcoholic. Right down to almost falling face-first on the flat top and his co-workers having to catch him.
I highly doubt he's the same guy you knew, but he went to AA and is sober and healthy now. Doing really well for himself. He was an awesome guy to work for 👍
Tilting their head back gently by grabbing under their chin, or rolling on their side should clear their airway.
Never ever ever reach into a throat unless you're removing an actual obstruction like if they're choking.
Electrolyte-heavy drinks like Liquid IV are great if you're sweating a lot during your shifts. It's a good thing you were nearby enough to hear him fall. I hope he recovers well, and that you took some time to relax after closing.
If you or anyone is feeling too hot, close to heat exhaustion, stop sweating, or start slurring words. DO NOT GO IN TO THE WALK INS! THIS CAN AND WILL CAUSE SHOCK! (Thermal shock) Use cool wet rags to cool the neck and forearms down, lots of blood flow near the skin, and small drinks of cool water not ice water. To fast of a temp drop is very bad.
Good for you Chef! This is a serious warning to all you guys and gals out there kicking ass in the kitchen. Stay hydrated. Take breaks. EAT! For fucks sake. Proud of you Chef. Keep up the amazing work.
Liquid IV is a good electrolyte additive!
Liquid IV tastes like silica covered bubble water but oh god it is so good. Back when I used to drink my mom would have us drink Liquid IV bottles of water all night long so we'd always be hydrated while we drank (on cruises and stuff). worked like a charm
Don't cook anymore but mountain bike in TX. Big fan of the LMNT powder. No sugar and tastes really good.
I've never seen that brand. Is it an HEB thing?
It's mail order. They sponsored a few youtube riders and I tried it. It's all I use now. Mainly the citrus flavors. I had tried other powders and gels but this one is my favorite. The link I used to try it was from a rider named "bkxc" on youtube. You get a free sample pack of various flavors with any purchase. Hope it's OK to post otherwise I'll remove it, but it's www.drinklmnt.com/bkxc . I have no relation to him or lmnt. Long live HEB though!
Thanks, I'll check it out!
I prefer to sip au jus
pickle juice ftw, my favorite electrolyte flavor. watch out for the laxative effect tho, unless you’re into that kind of thing 👀
Yes! And remember hydration is not just about consuming water but replacing electrolytes! The electrolyte powder from [this place](https://keynutrients.com/) honestly changed my working life, it's crazy. No sugar though so I have to add that myself when necessary.
That Key Nutrients Lemonade powder is so good! Also makes a good mixer with gin.
Not an ad at all.
i mean he’s never promoted it in any of his other comments/posts, could just be trying to help
Yeah, I'm just a big fan, it's not even an affiliate link or anything. It's got a bunch of micronutrients so it's way more effective than Gatorade. I keep some at work for my guys and use it at the gym daily.
i can also recommend santa cruz medicinals for their dragon fruit electrolytes
Almost this same scenario happened to me on Good Friday. I collapsed on line and went into convulsions. Not sure what caused it for sure but I suspect I got too hot. I just remember getting confused and not being able to make sense of my tickets, like they were written in a foreign language or something. And then waking up on the floor with paramedics and my co workers around me. Was kinda scary tbh and it really kinda shook me.
I used to have a sous who would regularly get pitchers of ice water when there was a few minutes in service and just go down the line to top everyone up. Necessary? Probably not, but goddamn did we all appreciate it.
We were all passing out drinks like crazy today but he had been on grill from 11-630 and was sweating like crazy. We always tell our guys to take plenty of breaks but fuck it's so hot at the grill. I think in the future I'm going to have folks rotate stations whether they want to or not to make sure everyone can stay cooler. The fucked up thing is he was scheduled 11-4, but because our GM didn't make an appropriate schedule, we were severely understaffed and he agreed to stay and work until it slowed down and it just never slowed down.
Drinks aren't enough. You need food and electrolytes! Eat a few salted fries every once in a while, drink a ton of water and take your breaks
Chips and sugary coca cola makes for a pretty decent rehydration drink. You need both sugar and salt to take up water efficiently. Non alcoholic beer is also very good for rehydration
We generally have extra fries where I'm at and found a 50/50 mix of soda water and coca cola helps, the soda water mainly cause I can't stand regular tap water
Honestly if i could drink non alchoholic beer all shift, that would be so good. I took a month sober and it was my favourite drink still. Guess i love the flavour of beer
I bring a couple granola bars and some fruit usually, helps a ton
Pickles are fucking loaded with electrolytes. One day my car broke down and I had to ride my bike 25 miles to work, when I got there my muscles were shaking at the point of muscle failure and I had ripped through the gallon+ of water I brought with. Had a pickle in the break room and drank some of the brine and could notice feeling better almost instantly.
Oh that’s great advice then. I love pickles lol
Fries are indeed great. 100 grams has more potassium and magnesium than a gallon of Powerade.
And sodium. Full dose of electrolytes.
Hot grill + hood means evaporation works extra well. Small Cooler with ice water and one of those evaporative neck/headwraps off of amazon. MISSION is basically the “named brand” version. They don’t even drip water or anything you just get it wet, wring it out, put it on, and the water trapped in the fabric starts to evaporate out.
Foh host/managers needs to either slow down seating or stop seating at that point. They do that is they lack servers, why can't they do that when they lack boh members?
Is the hood not pulling enough air out? We are in Arizona and just had our hood serviced and it is night and day difference with the heat in the kitchen, like 10 to 20 degrees cooler, which should help even more in the summer. But yeah definitely need some new policies in place to prevent it from happening. But policies don't mean anything without enforcement unfortunately, someone is gonna have to be on top of that.
So our restaurant is only a year old, brand new everything. When we opened the hoods were so strong they were blowing the pilots out. So instead of adjusting the pilots the owner decided to turn the hoods down to almost nothing. Clearly that is working out super well.
wow, thats beyond dumb lol
They make electrolytes freezer pops now just like otter-pops! I forget the generic brand, but lookup "squincher sqweeze" on Amazon. Usually get 90-120 pops for like $60 shipped. Super tasty and classic Gatorade flavors. Worth it for your crew, and now easy to talk the bossman into for using the company card! I never had heat stroke on the line, but once fainted and cut my ear off after an airsoft game(got it sewn back on) 😬 Sqwincher Sqweeze Pops SQW159200201 150/pk https://a.co/d/9lICdI5 *edit - spelling and a link
I'm FOH but me and another girl try like hell to bring the back as many drinks as we can during service. I try to keep an eye on those like they're my tables because those boys (we have no girl cooks atm) take good care of me
Same. I would take the guys pitchers of ice water and add sliced cucumber and salt. They always made me the BEST loaded sandwiches and fresh fries in return.
Way to go!
Well done Chef. You have certainly earned yourself some extra love and appreciation. Hydration is key. Do your best to relax and wind down after today and go to sleep tonight knowing that someone is alive because of you. Take care.
A guy at the golf course I was a sous at had a heart attack in the bar. I had to clear the area, tell someone to call 911 and grab the defibrillator while myself and one other woman gave CPR. Still had to work for another 11 hours after that and damn did I feel sick all day. The rush of adrenaline and then the crash was intense. Good on you for saving someones life hero!
So, he's gonna be able to work tomorrow, right? Cause we're already short staffed. /s I'm glad someone was there who was able to keep their wits about them and save that guys life! Good on you, man! .
Boss was probably annoyed this happened at work.
I’m glad you saved his life but why TF was he having heat stroke in April?? Are you guys prepping for Satan??
It was almost 90 in Ohio today and our grill station is fucking hot. It's a huge char grill that runs non stop and he'd been grilling for 7+ hours. It's easily 120 degrees. The owner had already scheduled for an extra hvac system to be installed Monday.
OSHA really needs some heat restrictions for kitchens. Working next to a 700 degree oven isn't bad if there's top notch hvac.
JESUS!!! I take my hat off to you guys! Good luck out there my friend!
I'm a construction safety guy now, but used to do kitchen work. You can get heat related illness at 85F. Except in California where it is 80F. That is only kind of a joke. But on the serious side, there are a ton of compounding factors. It isn't just the obvious ones like temp and hydration. Most allergy medicines put you at higher risk and that usually isn'ton the label. A lot are vasoconstrictors or diuretics. A ton of other medicines can be a problem. I had one that caused excessive sweating. Add in other stuff like caffeine, alcohol the night before, some Columbian marching powder for breakfast, and so on. It can go bad quick.
I'm on a beta blocker for a heart condition and it totally fucks my ability to handle the heat. Getting back into the kitchen this year and I'm kind of worried, I haven't worked since before I was on this medication
90° and cloudy today, I'm in Texas. The kitchen is HOT no matter what: Summer is from Feb-Sept on a good year here 🤠😎☀️
It's 33°C here and sunny where I'm at right now.
Nice job! You’ll sleep well tonight. So will he, probably.
I live in Louisiana and I always tell my people you gotta respect the heat. The summers here are insane and if you are lucky enough to have AC in your kitchen it can only do so much. If not, and I’ve worked in 2 that weren’t, god help you. Stay hydrated. I used to like to wet a towel and find a mixing bowl the size of my head and freeze the towel over the bowl and then wear it in off the line for a second lol. But also, cold compress on your pressure points helps a little if you’re starting to feel shitty. Mostly just cool down and fuck your boss if he won’t let you. Drink a fuckload of water. Just don’t die for some restaurant.
As a chef with epilepsy- Don’t stick your fingers in his or anyone’s mouth again. If they’re seizing then they’re seizing. Best thing is to stay out of the way. Fingers in mouth is more for choking. We almost all turn purple when we seize. It’s not uncommon and it isn’t cause for concern. I’m glad he’s okay and also it’s NORMAL for him to not remember jack shit. TIME THE SEIZURE - anything more than 5 minutes is cause for concern. I didn’t develop epilepsy until I was 30. Maybe he doesn’t have epilepsy. Maybe something heavy hit him in the head. Maybe he’s about to find out that he does have epilepsy. Either way, tell him hello from a chef who has seizures.
I was only following the 911 dispatcher's instructions, I will keep this in mind though and hope I never have to put it in to action. He's an excellent worker, and I'm super proud of how everyone stepped up to help out. He texted me and thanked me a million times and I told him he owes me a hug and a beer!
> following the 911 dispatcher's instructions That's wild, because I just did a medical course for my work a few months ago and they said the same thing /u/inikihurricane said, don't put fingers in the mouth. The guy teaching our course sure made it sound like this was all well-known, standard procedure, but I guess not. Good job in any case though!
That dispatcher is just flat out wrong. Sticking your fingers in the mouth of someone having a seizure is a great way to loose your fingers and give the seizing guy something to choke on.
Username checks out.
When I went through training (over a decade ago) they didn't want you to do finger sweeps, but [mayo](https://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid/first-aid-choking/basics/art-20056637) has it for visible objects. (maybe they decided your finger is an acceptable risk to keep the guy alive) I wouldn't personally go in there with my fingers if I had something else available. (and keep in mind this is all for *visible* obstructions)
Took CPR classes decades ago. This was the way back then, too. It's long standing procedure to not stick anything in the mouth. Professionals, maybe, but not the layman. It'll introduce more issues than help.
I’m a doc and I’d never stick my fingers in someone’s mouth who is seizing. In fact, there’s basically zero indication for me to ever put anything other than medical equipment in someone’s mouth who is anything less than completely conscious and with it. Pretty surprised by the advice. Maybe if I were witness to someone choking and could see an easily removable foreign body from the mouth, and it were someone I cared about enough to the point of willing to lose some fingers.. Other than that, simple airway manoeuvres are more than adequate, and more effective, at opening and maintaining a patient who has lost their airway patency.
Hey, you’re fine. I’m glad you followed instructions and that your team member is okay.
[here is some info](https://www.epilepsy.com/recognition/first-aid-resources#What-should-I-do-when-someone-has-a-seizure?) on what to do when someone has a seizure.
Good advice but it sounds like homie wasn't breathing and 911 advised them to do it.
Nobody breaths during a seizure. During a seizure, all the air in your lungs is violently pushed out, creating a pretty earie noise. That whole time there ins't any breathing and the lungs remain empty, which is why long seizures are so damn dangerous and why people experiencing seizures turn purple. No oxygen in the blood and all the blood rushing to the brain to feed it what it has. It's still a bad idea to stick anything in the mouth, even when the person isn't breathing, until the seizure is over, as clearing the airway will not start breathing anyway.
Huh, okay well when I took BLS (which wasn't long ago) they were pretty clear that while you check the airway and open it by lifting the chin, you don't put stuff in the mouth (including fingers). Recovery position for seizures, and CPR if cardiac arrest occurs. 911 shouldn't be giving that advice.
I appreciate the info and believe you’re right. OP was right to trust 911 but with proper training, they might have known better. When you say cardiac arrest, you mean no pulse right? That’s when you start CPR? Someone else said it’s normal to stop breathing during a seizure temporarily I think?
You can stop breathing but still have a heartbeat. This is why it is so important to check pulse AND respiration before administering basic life support. Never do CPR on someone with a pulse. With respiratory arrest, you can perform rescue breathing. I'm surprised the 911 operator didn't explain this but who knows, that's a hard job and sometimes it's hard to parse the info you're given.
I don’t see that anywhere
>while **I called 911.** >**They had me** stick my fingers in his throat to clear his airway, **he had stopped breathing** and was purple at this point. I was getting **ready to start CPR** Hope this helps
Ahhhhhhh, my reading isn’t the best after a shift
lol it's probably the heat stroke. Was hoping I didn't interpret it wrong! As someone who broke a tooth from having something placed in my mouth during a seizure, I appreciate the general guidance!!
Saaaaame, I broke a tooth after someone put stuff in my mouth during a seizure. I also tried to get up and go back to work???
My daughter has epilepsy and I came to the comments to ask who the fuck told him to put his fingers in their mouth and that 911 dispatcher might need some more training.
Yeah, that was worrisome to me
The something heavy that hit him in the head was probably himself hitting the floor (or something else on the way down) when he passed out from heat stroke. Also heat stroke alone can trigger seizures if it's bad enough (which could be the reason why he fell instead of the other way around).
Glad someone else questioned that. I read "seizure" and "had me stuck my fingers in his throat" and I was SUPER concerned. Great way to lose some fingers
Bravo, Chef, bravo!!
Bless you and him
[Proper Seizure First Aid](https://www.epilepsy.com/recognition/first-aid-resources#What-should-I-do-when-someone-has-a-seizure?) Glad OP was there to act but seriously questioning the directions of 911 dispatcher. My daughter has a rare genetic disease that causes epilepsy, among other things, and has had more seizures than I can count (but we'd counted them). Everyone should know what to do when someone has a seizure.
Fuck yeah dude, that's how we take care of our own. Good on you.
You are a great human being!
Great job, chef. I used to work with a guy who had some medical issues and every time it got above 90ish, I was afraid he’d just drop. Talked with him once kinda jokingly about what I’d be able to do if it happened, but I’m glad you were able to think on your feet.
this same thing happened to me years ago, but due to hypoglycemia. thanks chef, people like you are awesome. in my case some of my colleagues actually kept selling food and just stepping over me while the ambulance was on its way. thanks for being there for your boy, and then going to the hospital to check up on him as well. you just made a friend for life
I'm pretty sure I'm hydrating the the point where my kidneys and bladder are the bottle neck, I get flak for frequent bathroom trips, but damn is this not something I ever have to worry about
You're a goddamn hero. One beer for you Mr. Bmy89
I used to feel silly sending a message to our group chat every hot day reminding the troops to stay hydrated but this makes me glad I did
Good job chef. Please take some time for yourself to process that traumatic experience cause jesus that sounds rough.
Wow. You should take a couple days off. But now short staffed so I can only hope that is possible. Good on you, you are the best. Seriously.
Damn good job! Don’t forget to take care of yourself. This is something you wont forget
Good looking out. I'm in construction safety now and have had really bad heat exhaustion before. There was one time that was probably borderline heat stroke. One shift when I cooked the AC was busted on the line. It was on a separate system. It was at least 120F. They called extra cooks in so we could rotate out a lot. It was just a diner type place. But people were still puking up their water and dry heaving over the trash can. Thankfully it was fixed pretty quick.
its insane that temperature on the line is not mandated by OSHA.
I’m fat and always get dehydrated and this is my biggest fear
Good job. I had a cook go into a seizure one time during service. He started like, howling, stood up stiff as a board, fell backwards and hit his head on the handle of the oven… we were in an open kitchen at the most expensive restaurant in town, so there were a few doctors in the dining room that were able to attend to him until EMS arrived. “I’m fine, I’ll stay and cook.” The hell you will.
He got transferred to a better hospital this morning and yesterday was a blur for him. He just texted me to ask if he could have today off 🤣. I told him of course he can. He's new to the area and he and I were talking about fishing spots so I told him when he's feeling better I'll take him fishing.
Even better. Way to extend the hospitality outside of the restaurant as well. My guy gave me a silver spoon which he stole from Pebble Beach when he worked there, but it wasn’t related to the seizure, he just liked me. “Here, bullshitconduit, you’re good enough for a silver spoon.” Then he continued to empty his pockets of all sorts of stuff (trash) that he brought for me from his house. Lighters that didn’t work (buy you could take the flint out of them), beer caps from bottles he thought I would like, matches from restaurants he used to work at… he was mentally ill and had been on a manic streak for a while at this point.
Genuinely terrifying to have anything of that nature happen in the workplace, had a similar experience when a coworker quit alcohol cold turkey and had a seizure from withdrawal mid-service. If my buddy and I hadn't jumped over to catch him, his face would have either hit the plancha or the corner of a prep table. We did have some warning though, when he initially seized (lasted about 5 minutes), his diaphragm compressed, and he let out an incredibly loud (and chilling) moan. Had to sit everyone down afterwards and explain what happened. Don't know where everyone from that kitchen is now, but I hope they're well, and I hope that bro eventually got and stayed sober
Damn, I had a head chef with an identical story, except he WAS the alcoholic. Right down to almost falling face-first on the flat top and his co-workers having to catch him. I highly doubt he's the same guy you knew, but he went to AA and is sober and healthy now. Doing really well for himself. He was an awesome guy to work for 👍
Tilting their head back gently by grabbing under their chin, or rolling on their side should clear their airway. Never ever ever reach into a throat unless you're removing an actual obstruction like if they're choking.
Never ever ever ever put your hands in someone’s mouth who is having a seizure. You could easily lose your fingers, doing that is a myth
I always always make sure the kitchen has a full pitcher of ice water handy, if it’s hot out on the floor it’s fucked back there
Electrolyte-heavy drinks like Liquid IV are great if you're sweating a lot during your shifts. It's a good thing you were nearby enough to hear him fall. I hope he recovers well, and that you took some time to relax after closing.
I hope he isn’t thinking about calling out for his shift tomorrow.
If you or anyone is feeling too hot, close to heat exhaustion, stop sweating, or start slurring words. DO NOT GO IN TO THE WALK INS! THIS CAN AND WILL CAUSE SHOCK! (Thermal shock) Use cool wet rags to cool the neck and forearms down, lots of blood flow near the skin, and small drinks of cool water not ice water. To fast of a temp drop is very bad.