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One occupational hazard of being a nurse (or even a nursing student!) is that friends, family, and even brand-new acquaintances tend to buttonhole you for on-the-spot diagnoses and ad hoc consultations. And, since you are completely on board with helping people, you respond as a nurse whether you’re wearing scrubs or street clothes. So, it comes as no surprise that so many off-duty nurses save lives at accident scenes, public events, and ؅—in the case of our Nurse of the Week, Loyola Medicine NICU nurse Mary Lovelace, RN—sometimes they save the odd life while on vacation.

The pint-sized (5’2”) Lovelace is accustomed to treating tiny, premature newborns, so the encounter with her first grown-up “patient” in years gave her quite a workout. The 58-year-old was returning from dinner with friends during a trip to Scottsdale, Arizona when a stranger went into cardiac arrest and fell down right in front of her male partner’s son. Lovelace initially thought the large man was merely clowning with friends, but then, recalls, “I looked down and I’m like, ‘Oh, god. He was already really gray.” She shared a few traits with the fallen man. Angelo Valenti is also 58; he’s from Chicago as well and was visiting Scottsdale on vacation; and suddenly, both their holidays had become extremely eventful.

As Lovelace told Valenti’s companions to call 911 and seek out a defibrillator, she was already starting work on her patient. On duty in the NICU, she customarily performs two-finger CPR on neonates, but as luck had it, less than a month ago she’d brushed up on the standard, much more muscular resuscitation technique at a CPR refresher course. Like most nursing jobs, caring for preemies requires physical strength and endurance, though, and Lovelace persevered with her best two-fisted CPR for eight minutes, only stopping when the local EMTs showed up. In fact, one of Valenti’s ribs broke during her compressions, but keeping a cool head, she remembers thinking, “In my mind, I’m like, ‘Oh buddy, I’m sorry, but thank goodness you’re still breathing.’”

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An ambulance arrived and sped Valenti to the nearest hospital. He was unable to respond to his name for the first couple of days but quickly recovered and flew home a week later after surgeons implanted him with a cardioverter-defibrillator to help prevent a future cardiac arrest.

The two Chicagoans have been in touch since their paths crossed so dramatically and have formed a bond. When a grateful Valenti called to thank her for her prompt care, “It was very powerful,” Lovelace says, “It was a very emotional conversation. I’m glad I was there at the right time to do what I can do and what I’ve been trained to do over the years.”

See a full account of Mary Lovelace and Angelo Valenti’s exciting Arizona journey at the Chicago Tribune.

Koren Thomas
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