For the past seven years, Norbert Shulz made his way to the Baylor Heart and Vascular Health Hospital to volunteer. He attended his volunteering sessions twice a week, small events that made the Texas man happy to give back. Comforting patients and their families was fulfilling for him.
One day during one of his visits, everything changed.
Norbert was heading down a hallway in the massive hospital, when something didn't feel right.
"I just — was light-headed. So I knew to back up against this wall and get my head down," Norbert recounts of the day that altered his life.
The tall, older man was having a heart attack and slowly slid down toward the floor. A registered nurse, Tonja Solomon, saw the moment of anguish from her desk and realized it was Norbert struggling in front of her. She knew him as both a volunteer and a friend.
"When he made it down to the floor, we got him there," Tonja remembers. She describes poor Norbert as having his "eyes rolled back." She's all too familiar with the symptoms. "We knew. I'm like, give me a crash cart."
The crash cart is a container that holds emergency equipment. It's set on wheels so it can be moved around easily and quickly, to assist in any predicament.
In a strange turn of events, the crash cart wasn't in its designated room. It had been misplaced.
For some unknown reason, the crash cart was left in the hallway, only steps away from Norbert's location.
In any other situation, this could have caused grave consequences, but for Norbert, it was as if the equipment were placed in the hall just for him.
The medical staff's quick reactions allowed them to shock Norbert back to life and clear his blocked artery. If he hadn't been in that hospital and if the crash cart had not been so close to Norbert, who knows what would have happened.
After being away for two months, Norbert returned to hospital and was greeted with smiles and hugs warmer than he could have imagined. And we're sure it felt good to be back.
Please SHARE Norbert's riveting experience if you believe everything happens for a reason!
