Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Note to co-workers: manage your diabetes or we will hurt you

A co-worker went into diabetic shock on Monday. The good news is that she is fine...but the bad news is that not many of us knew what to do to help.

So, in an effort to ease people's anxiety, we had a safety meeting yesterday where we went over warning signs of low blood sugar and high blood sugar. You might be interested to know that people with low blood sugar are usually cranky. So, let me just answer the question that I've been asked all day long. NO. I don't have low blood sugar right now.

Anyway, our Operations Manager asked us, "What do you do if the diabetic goes into an unresponsive state?"

And another co-worker said "Give them CPR."

So the Ops Manager said, "No. No, that would be very bad."

At a couple of blank looks, he went on to explain the difference between your heart not beating (and thus needing CPR) and someone passing out (where the person does NOT need CPR, and you should proabably call 911).

I'm just saying, if you're a diabetic and need a job, you probably don't want to work here. We're likely going to make matters worse.

5 comments:

Ginger said...

Ha! We could all use lessons on when not to give CPR: This reminds me about a person who gave CPR to her tiny purse-sized dog, full on mouth over snout. The poor dog was just taking a nap, though she may have had a heart attack from the sheer terror of waking up like that.

I wish I were a fly on the wall in your office.

Jon Hey said...

Aren't you supposed to give them some sugar? Like fruit juice or a hard candy?

Happy Fun Pants said...

Jon - yes, people with low blood sugar should be given things with sugar in it - liquids are best and orange juice is apparently ideal.

However, pounding on someone's chest and performing a medical act where you're trying to start their heart is not a good idea...because people who pass out typically still have a beating heart. Kinda' like giving someone the Heimlich Manuever when they're not choking. In general, it's not suggested.

Liz Brooks said...

This is hilarious!

kristi said...

One of my co-workers has low blood sugar episodes, oh every 6 weeks at work. Starts out acting drunk, then gets very sweaty and incoherent. At first it was scary, but now that we know how to help, it's somewhat amusing. We give her cokes and glucose tablets. Twice I've had to go rescue her at her house because she didn't show up to work and lives alone.