Fire rescue official lauds nurse who worked on pedestrian she hit

Her stethoscope already dangling from her neck in preparation for her shift, respiratory therapist Patricia Syraski was driving on busy Gulf to Bay Boulevard on Monday when a man walked in front of her in the pre-dawn darkness.

Her Chevrolet Avalanche struck him.

Syraski, 50, said she immediately maneuvered into the left turn lane, moving the truck gingerly to ensure she didn't roll over the man's body. When she pulled over, she looked behind her, and saw him 15 feet away on the ground.

As a registered nurse at Tampa General Hospital, the Clearwater woman had to undergo a special CPR course required of all health care professionals in Florida. But she didn't foresee having to use that training for someone her own truck struck.

She did, however, and, according to fire officials, in all likelihood saved the man's life.

"I would say that without her assistance that there is a good possibility he would not have survived his initial injury," said Jean-Pierre Medani, assistant chief for emergency medical services at Clearwater Fire and Rescue. "There is no greater gift that you could give to another person than that of life."

At first, Syraski said, she began screaming at passers-by to call 911, and then knelt down and felt for a carotid pulse. There was none.

She said she then began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, doing chest compressions. She detected a pulse, and the man started gurgling. She then took that stethoscope and found the man was breathing in both lungs.

Medani said her actions were crucial.

"People who do not have a pulse for four to six minutes typically do not survive those type of injuries," he said.

He also said her decision to concentrate on the chest compressions was the right one.

The American Heart Association is currently revising its CPR standards to emphasize the importance of chest compressions compared with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, Medani said.

If someone stops the chest compressions to breathe into a victim's mouth, he or she may lose the increase in blood pressure obtained by the compressions, which are aimed at pushing blood to the brain, Medani said.

Syraski didn't stop the compressions until a doctor happened upon the scene and offered to help. The doctor took over the compressions while Syraski concentrated on the man's airways. The pair continued working together until paramedics arrived.

When paramedics started treating the man, he was moving his hands up toward the tube rescue workers were trying to insert into his mouth. The 30-year-old Clearwater man - whose name has not been released - remains in critical condition at Bayfront Medical Center, said Elizabeth Watts, Clearwater's public safety spokeswoman.

While Syraski is supposed to have that special CPR training, she is still to be commended for using it under circumstances paramedics, not hospital nurses, are accustomed to, Medani said. A hospital is much more of a controlled environment, he said.

"The fact she was able to get a pulse back was phenomenal," Medani said.

Syraski was humble about what she did.

"It was instinct," she said. "You just jump out and do it."