Quick-acting staff at Sutter Health's Memorial Medical Center in Modesto, Calif., helped save five people when they warned firefighters that occupants of a patient's home may have been exposed to carbon monoxide, KOVR reports.
The Modesto Fire Department received a call June 19 about a woman who had passed out. The woman, who is diabetic, was transported to Sutter for treatment, and her roommates assumed her fainting was related to her condition.
But the hospital staff quickly recognized the patient has been exposed to carbon monoxide, and when she mentioned other people were at the home, the staff quickly alerted fire crews to return.
The residents could have died if hospital staff and dispatchers had not followed up on the earlier incident, officials said, according to The Modesto Bee.
"Given a few more hours, it definitely could've been tragic," said Modesto Fire Division Chief Tim Tietjen.