On the morning of March 1st, at a resort in Soc Son (Hanoi), a small family's weekend vacation suddenly turned into a breathtaking moment. A 3-year-old boy slipped and fell into the swimming pool while playing. When discovered and brought ashore, the child was purple, stopped breathing, and his heart was no longer beating.
Amidst the panicked cries and confusion of those around, luck did not turn her back. During a weekend vacation with her family at a resort in Soc Son (Hanoi), Dr. Quynh Huong - Center for Gastroenterology - Liver and Gallbladder, Bach Mai Hospital, did not hesitate for a second and immediately approached the victim.
My first reflex was to give emergency treatment immediately. In my head, there was only one thought: I had to do it as quickly as possible to save my child," Dr. Huong recalled.
Determining that the child was not breathing, not responding, she immediately performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation according to the correct C-A-B procedure: compression of the heart - ventilation - suffocation, with techniques specifically for young children. Decisive and accurate movements were performed continuously in air as tense as a guitar string.
After only about 1–2 minutes, a miracle happened: the baby's chest began to move, the weak breathing gradually returned, and the skin became pinker. Life was pulled back from the most fragile boundary.
Those two short minutes – seemingly fleeting – were the decisive boundaries between life and loss.
“It's not a miracle. It's the result of systematic training and regular practice. Training courses have helped me form emergency reflexes,” Dr. Huong shared.
The fact that a medical staff member can handle circulatory arrest situations outside the hospital, in everyday life, is not accidental. Behind that timely action is a training strategy implemented synchronously at Bach Mai Hospital.
With the view that "emergency is a vital skill", the hospital leadership determines that circulatory arrest resuscitation is not only the task of the Resuscitation or Emergency Department, but must become the core competence of all medical staff - regardless of major.
From May to September 2025, the hospital organized 30 continuous training classes on cardiopulmonary resuscitation, training for all 4,454 officials and employees. The courses do not only stop at theory, but focus on practice on simulated models, training reflex skills and team coordination in emergency situations.
The goal is not simply to complete training targets, but to build an "emergency culture" - where each medical staff member, wherever they are, can become a lifeline when unexpected situations occur.
