Weekly First-aid Topic: "Lightning strike" emergency treatment in thunderstorm season in the open field
From:Beijing Municipal Health Commission
Date:06/07/2024

With the arrival of high temperatures in summer, the rainy season has also begun. Due to the particularity of lightning, summer thunderstorms are prone to lightning strikes. On May 19, 2024, Beijing issued a blue warning for lightning. On the same day, the dispatcher of the Beijing 120 Dispatch and Command Center received a call that a man was unfortunately struck by lightning while climbing the wild Great Wall. He had lost consciousness, and urgently needed treatment. After sending the ambulance, the dispatcher kept the call and gave guidance on the phone. The caller was panicked, but still cooperated to describe the situation on the scene.

Based on the caller's intermittent description on the phone, the dispatcher collected the effective information and learned that the patient was in a section of the wild Great Wall, with no place to shelter from the rain and the shelter location was very remote. The location was far from the foot of the mountain, and the ambulance could not arrive for a while. So she immediately called 110 and 119 during the guidance interval to seek coordinated police dispatch from multiple departments. Time passed by minute by minute. Good news finally came over the phone 20 minutes later. The patient's breathing was restored and the resuscitation was successful.

When the ambulance arrived at the foot of the mountain, the rain had not stopped. The emergency doctor carried heavy emergency equipment and climbed the mountain road for more than an hour with the firefighters and police officers in the rain to reach the patient. After the emergency doctor's on-site examination, the patient's vital signs were relatively stable, but the consciousness had not yet recovered. With the joint assistance of multiple police forces, the emergency crew sent the patient to the hospital smoothly and safely.

Here are some health tips from Beijing 120: It is recommended to reduce going out during thunderstorms, avoid staying on high-rise platforms, isolated sheds, mountain tops or ridges, and don't hide under big trees to avoid thunderstorms. It is not advisable to hide at the entrance of the cave to avoid being hit by rolling stones. If someone falls to the ground due to electric shock, you should not rescue them with bare hands or wet tools. The patient should be removed from the dangerous environment first, and it is necessary to call the emergency number in time to wait for professionals to arrive.