Off-duty Jefferson nurses are saving lives at MilkBoy
Off-duty nurses drinking at the Market East venue performed CPR on a man Thursday who fell ill during a music performance.
A funk show had just started at MilkBoy Thursday night, when a fan fell near the stage, quickly losing consciousness. That’s when a group of off-duty nurses, relaxing after a shift at nearby Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, did something the hospital staff is becoming famous for during their off-hours at the Market East bar and live music spot: They saved a life.
It was shortly after 8:30 p.m., said MilkBoy owner Jamie Lokoff, when an older man watching a performance by Owls by Day, a New York-based band opening for the funk group Polyrhythmics, suddenly collapsed. Alerted that a fellow customer had gone into cardiac arrest, a trio of nurses at a downstairs table quickly rushed upstairs to help, he said. As the band turned up the lights, the nurses used cell phone flashlights to assess the stricken fan.
“The nurses went to work on the guy,” said Lokoff, who reviewed video of the life-saving incident. “They started doing CPR, pumping his chest. Here they were downstairs having a good time and, boom, they got to run upstairs and you got a guy who has no pulse.”
More off-duty nurses quickly joined to help, said MilkBoy general manager Anna Reed.
“They did chest compressions for eight to 10 minutes,” she said. “They were tagging in and out.”
Eric Lense, who plays drums in Owls By Day, said the man was “in very bad shape.”
“It was scary and intense,” Lense said. “But also amazing to watch these professionals step in so quickly and save this man’s life.”
By the time paramedics soon arrived, the nurses had resuscitated the man, Lokoff and Reed said. Fans and customers cheered as the man, awake and responsive, was carried out to an ambulance. The bar had an emergency response certified staffer working the show, who helped clear room for the ailing patron. The condition of the man, who had been at the show with his wife, is not known.
Remarkably, it’s the third time in recent memory that nurses and doctors from the hospital, located about a block away on 11th Street, helped save a customer’s life at the club, Lokoff said. An off-duty Jefferson doctor used a defibrillator they had in their bag to save the life of a patron who had been drinking Tito’s vodka on the rocks when he went into cardiac arrest about a year ago, Lokoff said. On another occasion, nurses aided an older regular, who fell unconscious and was also revived.
MilkBoy, which opened in 2011 and serves from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m., is a popular hangout for Jefferson staff, who come for postshift drinks and food.
Neither Lokoff nor Reed knew the names of the nurses who helped revive the man. Bar staff comped much of the large group’s bill, they said.
A Jefferson spokesperson could not identify the nurses either. But they said the hospital was proud.
“We are proud of our clinicians and the lifesaving skills they bring in our hospitals as well as the community,” they said in a statement. “These acts of courage and quick thinking are a powerful reminder of the dedication and training that define the Jefferson Nurse and our physicians.”
“It’s pretty remarkable to see these nurses go into action in real time,” Lokoff said. “We just want to express our gratitude to the Jefferson nurses and staff that has been there to step in when needed. They just do what they do, and we want to give them a hug. … I joke that we’re the safest bar around.”