Il Tirreno Giornale (PISA, Italia, Friday 20 September 2002 )
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Stricken by a heart attack at the fifth level, he has been revived Timely intervention by the physician of the 118th and of the Volunteers of Assistance by Giovanni Parlato PISA. Alexander Turner, Scottish, 69 years old, was getting on the Tower at the same time as a group of forty other tourists. A camera around his neck, he arrived at the fifth level, when he suddenly collapsed. His heart had stopped. He gave no more signs of life. It looked as if him there was no more hope for him. But the timely intervention of the physician of the 118th, Marcello Lazzeri, and the volunteers of the Public Assistance of Pisa have saved him from death. A quick run up the Tower with a defibrillator, a shock to the heart, and then the elderly tourist returns to breathe. To carry him out, the Tower wa evacuated. Since the stretcher didn't fit between the staircases, the Scottish was lowered to the ground using a cloth. And from here transferred by ambulance that carried him to Deu, Department of emergency and urgency at Santa Chiara. But now here are the details of what happened yesterday morning in Piazza dei Miracoli. The alarm goes off. It is 10.38 AM when someone calls for help from the Tower of Pisa. The phone call arrives at the 118th. The alarm speaks about a serious problem. The Operations Room at the 118th sends an ambulance of Public Assistance of Pisa with a physician, Marcello Lazzeri. With him there are the volunteers Marina Macchiaroli and Catia Viviani, for a guide there is Giancarlo Fontanelli. The ambulance arrives as soon as three minutes in Piazza dei Miracoli. The custodians from the Opera del Duomo tell the physician that there are two people that have felt poorly, a girl at the fourth and a man at the fifth level. The physician of the 118th and the crew from Publis Assistance hasten up the narrow staircase of the Tower. "At the fourth level", says doctor Marcello Lazzeri, "I find a girl laying down and somebody holding her legs up. Her face was pale. Perhaps she had a panic crisis or she had suffered a strong decrease in pressure. But they tell me that there is a more serious person above". The Scotsman gives no signs of life. On the ring of the fifth piano, it is the elderly. A young woman (perhaps she was the daughter) was doing all to save him. She had given him the cardiac massage and mouth to mouth resucitation. But the man isn't breathing. "We set monitors", the physician explains, "and we relieved the girl, in practice the man was in cardiac arrest. Therefore, I have tried defibrillating". The heart resumed beating. At the first shake, the heart winced. Immediately after the first discharge, the cardiac pulsation came back. "It returned at his wrist also and I have felt him breathe", continuous Marcello Lazzeri. Blood pressure returned to acceptable values". After the vital signs returned, the problem was to carry the tourist down to ground. And here the intervention of the personnel of the Opera Primaziale del Duomo has been precious. They evacuated tower. The stretcher could not fit up the narrow staircases, it could not be broken down. And, besides, there were the other tourists that prevented the descent. The tourist was settled on a cloth for transport of patients and hoisted down by the custodians. The situation needs attention. The passage is narrow, the stairs slippery, and each movement is done with maximum caution. The physician of the 118th and the two volunteers have saved the life of the tourist. The driver Giancarlo Fontanelli brought the ambulance to the exit of the Tower. And it is all ready. By good fortune, the hospital is near. At Hospital Santa Chiara, in a short minute, the ambulance of Public Assistance of Pisa enters the hospital. The Scottish tourist is still unconcious, but that this is probably due to the fact that he could have hit his head in the collapse. After care at the Deu (Urgent Care Department), Alexander Turner is now in recovery. The doctors have reserved the prognosis. Translated by Gary Feuerstein, 31 December 2002, from the Il Tirreno article |
