The Red Crescent saves a Sudanese woman in her seventies from a stroke in Jeddah
In a vivid demonstration of the efficiency of the ambulance system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the medical teams of the Saudi Red Crescent Authority in Jeddah Governorate succeeded in saving the life of a seventy-year-old Sudanese resident, after she suffered a serious health condition that almost cost her her life, were it not for divine care and the speed of the professional response.
The incident began when the Command and Control Center and the Medical Evacuation Center received an urgent report at 10:00 AM on Thursday, indicating a critical medical condition involving a woman suffering from alarming neurological symptoms. Emergency medical teams immediately responded to the scene, where initial examination revealed that the patient was experiencing severe and sudden weakness on the right side of her body, accompanied by an inability to speak clearly—classic indicators of an acute stroke.
Activation of the stroke pathway
The ambulance teams did not simply transport the patient; they handled the case according to the latest internationally and locally approved medical protocols. As soon as a stroke was clinically suspected, the stroke pathway was immediately activated in direct coordination with the medical control physician at the authority. This proactive step allowed for notifying the receiving medical facility and preparing the specialized team before the patient's arrival.
The “Stroke Track” is one of the most important health initiatives developed by the Kingdom to link ambulance services with hospitals. This system allows bypassing routine emergency procedures and direct access to specialized care, thus providing crucial golden minutes in the diagnosis and treatment of strokes.
The importance of timeliness and rapid intervention
This process is crucial due to the biological nature of strokes, where doctors emphasize that time is the deciding factor between life and death, or between recovery and permanent disability. Every minute of delay can lead to the damage of millions of nerve cells in the brain. Therefore, the advance coordination undertaken by the Red Crescent teams directly contributed to expediting the necessary diagnostic and treatment procedures for the patient upon her arrival at the hospital.
Saudi Red Crescent readiness
The Saudi Red Crescent Authority confirmed, in a comment on the incident, that the speed of the report from the patient’s relatives, the efficiency of the paramedics in the field, in addition to the digital and procedural integration with the medical facility, were combined factors that contributed to increasing the patient’s chances of survival and reducing potential complications.
This successful intervention comes as part of a comprehensive strategy adopted by the Authority to enhance the readiness of its field teams, raise the efficiency of response to critical cases, and activate specialized medical pathways (such as the stroke pathway and the heart attack pathway), in line with the goals of health transformation in the Kingdom to ensure the rapid arrival of emergency medical services and saving lives with the highest quality standards.
