Compassionate community care

John Rouse didn’t notice anything unusual as he rode his bicycle to his local Metro station that Wednesday morning. He hopped on a train as usual, headed to his job as principal of Maranatha High School in Pasadena. As the train was leaving the station, however, he started to feel woozy.

The next thing he remembers was regaining consciousness. He was on the ground. “I woke up and there were two men by my side,” John says. “These guys were awesome,” he adds. “They were calm and knew exactly what they were doing. They checked my pulse, made me comfortable, asked me questions to find out what happened and directed the conductor on where the paramedics would pick me up.”

The men who helped John on the train that day were Marvin Jimenez, RN, and Guillermo Landers, RN — two of our nurses on their way to work. “I know the first few minutes of a health crisis are the most critical,” John says, “and as a person of faith, I felt God ordained those nurses be on that train, to step forward and take care of me.”

Once at our hospital, tests determined that John had experienced syncope — a fainting spell. Since he has a heart condition, he received inpatient care for a few days as a precaution, before going back home with a clean bill of health.

“The hospital staff made me feel like part of the family while I was there,” he says, “and they made sure my wife and I knew everything that was going on,” he adds. “I really felt cared for; like my health and well-being were always put first.”