Superhero Nurse

When Davia Tucker got dressed for work at the Bustamante Hospital for Children on Thursday, January 12, little did she know that later that day she would have to jump through a window at the ICU in an attempt to save the lives of 4 children. A teary Tucker, Critical Care Nurse at the institution tells the tale of what happened before the smoke cleared that Thursday evening when the AC Unit in a consultant room inside the ICU caught fire.

Earlier that evening, Tucker had just finished the admission of a first time patient to the ICU. She had orientated the child’s parents and told them to wait in the passage while she writes her notes. Moments later, she was alerted by the voice of someone querying about the smell of something burning in the unit. But what Tucker smelled and had initially thought was electrical wire or plastic burning turned out to be smoke from the AC unit in the consultant office.

“You’re going to die. You are going to stay in here and really die?” that’s the thought that initially crossed my mind, Tucker said when thick smoke from the fire started permeating the air in the building. She describes how fearful she felt in that moment as seeing the smoke triggered a previous experience that happened on the hospital compound. Tucker explained that a car belonging to the sister of one of her colleagues had caught fire and in a matter of minutes it was totally engulfed.

However, this fear subsequently subsided by the realisation that in that very moment she had a duty and the safety of the 4 children was of utmost importance.

That’s when she mustered the courage and braved the smoke in an attempt to get help to put out the fire. Help came when she alerted the compound, and porters Andre Barrowes and Errol Michaels brought extinguishers to the unit to quell the fire. Tucker explained that the smoke got “as dark as midnight” and Barrowes and Michaels seemed to have disappeared in the building. It was at this point she remembered that Barrowes was asthmatic and became gravely concerned about the state of his health.

Fear came over Tucker once again. This time Tucker remembered the words from Minister Kadesha Jenkins, a programme she had been listening to before coming to work that morning. What stuck with her were the words “God is watching. No matter what you’re going through, God is watching you”. She stood frozen in the passage looking outside at the parents, looking at the staff inside, looking at the smoke and thinking of the child that was just admitted and said to herself “God is watching me”.

By this time, the porters had managed to control the fire but the smoke was now moving into the actual unit. Even though the fire was being controlled, the smoke was getting worse. She explained that smoke inhalation is a complication that can cause long term effect for both the staff and patients so she quickly ran out for oxygen cylinders.

Then came her “army”, as she describes it. She recalls looking around and seeing security guards, porters, parents and this is when she realised that she had a team with her fighting the fire.

Heading back to the ICU she remembered that the individuals in the building were basically trapped because the ICU was enclosed and therefore did not allow ventilation. That meant those inside were inhaling and exhaling the smoke while the concentration level was getting worse. She then decided to break the window at the front of the building to allow air inside. She would later jump through that same window carrying the oxygen cylinders inside. At this point, two of the patients had safely made their way outside of the ICU.

Once safely inside, she saw the doctors taking off the different attachments for the cardiac patients. What was scary about this experience for her though was the fact that these patients were on adrenaline and inotropes and if for a second the inotropes switched off that could have meant the death of that child.

But throughout the process, the thought of something exploding was constantly on her mind. She believed that even though the process was going quickly, at any minute something could go wrong that could have proved detrimental.

Working tirelessly, all 4 children were transported from the ICU to the University of the West Indies Hospital.

She noted that other members of staff at the hospital also climbed through the window to offer assistance and that warmed her heart.

Above all, she thanks God for taking them through it. Looking back, she said it could have been worse. It could have resulted in the death or collapse of a staff or a child, the unit could have burnt down and the damage extended to the entire hospital but God was on their side.

“When I looked at how comfortable the patients were after being placed in the top recovery, I was amazed. I was waiting for one of them to arrest, for one of them to have issues, stop breathing, heart start giving problem,” Tucker said. But instead of that happening, they all turned out fine.