Nov 3, 2022
Jim Anderson, Safety
Superintendent at Mitsubishi Cement, joins Libby on the podcast
today. From doing Search and Rescue all the way to being a Chief at
the volunteer fire department where he worked, Jim has always been
involved in health and safety for his entire career. In this
episode, he shares one of the many safety stories he has
accumulated over the years that is really quite personal for
him.
Episode Highlights:
- One July day, Jim was made aware that Luther, a
shipping clerk at their plant whom he has known for decades was
displaying some unusual symptoms
- Luther had been to the hospital a couple times
for the same symptoms, but they were not considered an emergency so
the ER team did not dig any deeper
- This time, Luther had been told by EMS that he
was not having a heart attack or cardiac event, and to go see a
doctor after he got after work but his coworker who knows him well
was uncomfortable with this advice and contacted Jim about
it
- When Jim got to the plant and talked to the
clerk, and he was uncomfortable with that plan as well
- When questioning him, Jim discovered that the
clerk had been gardening all day in the July sun and heat the day
before
- To Jim, his symptoms were characteristic of
electrolyte imbalance, particularly cramping and pain in his
legs
- But he also had some lower left lung pain which
didn’t make sense to Jim, so he talked Luther into going to the
hospital
- Jim drove him there as ambulances were hours
away for a variety of reasons
- The hospital they went to took the time to
explore even further than the emergency rooms had been able to
previously, and found that Luther was suffering from Deep Vein
Thrombosis (DVT) - clots in the leg that can migrate to other
areas (lungs, brain, etc).becoming truly life
threatening
- While Luther has survived, Jim learned of
another person experiencing similar symptoms on the same day
who sadly didn’t go to a hospital and ended up dying
- Thanks to the fact that there were people who
knew Luther well enough to see that he just wasn’t acting himself,
and that Luther listened to Jim to go to the hospital to get
checked out, he is alive today, and has since given Jim permission
to share his story
Toolbox Talk Discussion Questions:
- In this story, we hear the story of Luther, an
employee who is experiencing medical symptoms but wasn’t sure if it
was serious enough to go to the doctor. What does this tell us
about listening to ourselves and taking medical threats
seriously?
- How can this story encourage us to check in
with one another and stay well at work and at home?
- Do you have a story to share about taking a
medical threat seriously?
Quotes:
“I didn't feel comfortable with
just letting him go to the doctor after work and chances are he
wouldn't have gone and in later conversation with him, he confirmed
that.”
“He said he'd actually been to
the hospital twice before for the same symptoms and they weren't
able to figure it out.”
“He wasn't in really bad shape,
but he was in bad enough shape.”
“There's a 95% chance that this
is nothing but there's a 5% chance that this is
something.”
“I knew this individual, that he
needed somebody to dig a little deeper because the hospitals that
he had gone to, they, their primary concern is,’Okay, is the guy
going to die immediately?” Emergency Rooms are to treat emergencies
but they didn't quite dig deep enough.”
“And there's a condition called
DVT, or deep vein thrombosis, and it's clots in your leg, and those
clots had migrated. And they cause what would be called a pulmonary
embolism or a clogged artery in the lungs. And that is truly a life
threatening issue.”
“Because of the personal
relationship that the gentleman had at the plant with Luther, knew
him well enough to call me at home going, ‘Hey, I'm not comfortable
with EMS getting turned around. Can you dig into this a little
deeper?’”
“By the grace of God, he
listened to me going, ‘Okay, there is a 5% chance that this could
be bad.’ But that 5% wound up being the suspicions that we
had.”
Links:
National Stone, Sand & Gravel
Association website