Her graduation day is a day she will remember for a long time: at 23, the same day as the celebrations for the conclusion of her studies in physiotherapy, she found herself late in the evening on a bus in the center of Bolzano fighting to save her life. of an unknown passenger taken ill, still disguised as a sumo wrestler as had been imposed on her by her friends for the party.
Illness
Marika Zabini, who wants to avoid the media hype for a gesture that should be perfectly normal, the other evening, around 11.30 pm, he was returning with some family members from the party organized for the completion, with full marks, of the course of studies in physiotherapy at the Provincial Higher School of Health “Claudiana”. But suddenly his day took on a completely different role. From the back of the bus, a thud was heard: a man had fainted as he fell heavily to the ground. “He did not react, did not respond to stimuli, his heart was still”, the girl told the newspaper South Tyrolparticularly impressed also because no one else on the bus intervened.
The ‘life-saving’ intervention
The new graduate, on the other hand, did not lose heart: thanks also to her past as a promising young high-level ski, she completed the first aid course twice. Course also attended by her brothers, her boyfriend and the young woman’s cousin, who were on the bus with her and thus assisted her in resuscitation maneuvers.
Sixteen compressions of the sternum were necessary, the young woman then said, certainly not facilitated by the cumbersome disguise she still wore from the graduation party, for the man, about 50 years old, to regain consciousness. Meanwhile, the place where the bus stopped was reached by an ambulance whose crew took the man to the hospital, where he was later declared out of danger.
The first aid course
Marika also drew a moral from the eventful evening: “Participating in first aid courses – she said herself commenting on what happened – is essential but even more so is to carry them out regularly”, because “it allows you to be prepared for these situations and save lives. “. In South Tyrol the courses are offered, among other things, by the White Cross, which can contract on a real army of 3,900 volunteers. Knowing how to perform a cardiac massage, like Marika, correctly apply a defibrillator or know how to do the Heimlich maneuver on someone who is choking, are simple gestures that can save life.