An eldarly man had a heart attack on my train this morning. They got him to a bench on the Union Sq. N/R/W platform, but he didn't look too good.
I was sitting there writing a blog post on my phone this guy's wife just stood up and started patting him down with water. It took people a while to awaken from subway zombie mode to figure out what was happening.
I don't know if I have coherent thoughts here, so I'll just jot down some bullets.
- Subway cars are now locked. That's to prevent idiots from walking between cars. It also prevented us from reaching help right away. If you're old... try to ride in the conductor's car.
- Someone told me to pull the emergency brake. This is stupid. Had I pulled that brake, that guy's dead... b/c that leaves you stuck in the tunnel, locked in a subway car with no help. Never ever pull that brake unless you are at a station.
- Neither of these people spoke any English and we were lucky to find a cop that spoke Spanish. If you have a relative or someone you know who doesn't speak any English, or travels to a country where they don't, make sure you have a card or something on you that says, in a language people around you are sure to understand, whether you have any history of medical problems, allergies, etc.
- I hope that when its my time, I'm with someone who cares about me... unless I die in my sleep or something. I hate to think about how this would have turned out had his wife not been there to hold his hand and cradle him as he slumped around.
- Thanks to the other bald guy who held the train doors open and made sure the train didn't leave while I ran to the conductor... and to the person who helped this couple off the train to the bench.