Ness Lake resident Laurie Muise was at home around noon on July 21, after volunteering with the BC Summer Games, when she heard her daughter screaming downstairs.
Her daughter’s 17-year-old friend was lying on the floor of Muise’s basement, having a grand mal seizure. Muise, a former Ness Lake Fire Volunteer Fire Department member, knew what to do.
“I told (my daughter) to call 911 right away. She called, then handed me the phone. I asked right away for them to dispatch the fire department,” she said. “The ambulance took about half an hour, from town. But our fire department could have been here in five minutes.”
With road construction and the extra traffic because of the BC Summer Games events being held at Ness Lake, Muise said she was concerned it could be a long time for the ambulance to arrive.
Muise said she had a family member who suffered from seizures and was familiar with what they look like. But the teenager had no history of seizures and as it ended, she was confused, disoriented and kept saying her arm hurt, Muise said. It turned out later that the seizure had been so intense, the girl had dislocated her shoulder, but at the time they didn’t know what had caused the seizure or the pain.
“Near the end of the phone call, she came out of the seizure,” she said. “I called them back 10-15 minutes later, because she was complaining about her arm hurting, and I thought she might be having a stroke. I asked them where the fire department was, but they said they couldn’t come.”
The girl’s mother arrived before the ambulance. When the paramedics arrived, they told her there was a risk her daughter could have a second seizure and the ambulance might need to take off at high speed to get her to the hospital, Muise said.
