From left: Nurse Bernardita Cordova and Monique O'Kelleher at Doctors Hospital.

Nassau, Bahamas - It isn’t every day that we hear about the positive things happening in our society, but a recent act of kindness and a measure of perfect timing collided, resulting in a life being saved.

Monique O'Kelleher, born and bred in Marsh Harbour, was just leaving work when she saw Doctors Hospital ICU Nurse Bernardita Cordova, known affectionately as Bernie, waving her hands hysterically in the middle of Collins Avenue south.

“I thought she was running from somebody. I thought somebody was attacking her and she wanted to get away,” Monique recalls.

Rather than speeding away from what she thought could have been a dangerous situation, she stopped the car and Bernie managed to get in.

It turned out that Bernie was having a massive asthma attack.

“And then she said ‘Doctor’, but she could hardly talk. And I immediately went into panic mode; I went over the hill instead of coming to the hospital, because I was thinking ‘Collins Avenue, quickest doctor’. Luckily she was coherent enough to say ‘no, Doctors Hospital’. She grabbed me from behind and I said ‘ok, no problem’ and I put on my hazards and went straight through traffic,” Monique says.

Not only was Bernie’s life saved by the selfless act of a complete stranger, but her belongings that had been left in the car were later returned.

“She is so lucky, because I had given some people a ride home and her stuff was right in the back and I had no idea until she had called and asked me to see if her stuff was under my seat.”

She described it as such a miracle, as she had given about 8 people a ride since that day.

Bernie, who at the time of her asthma attack was cleaning an apartment, proceeded to call her husband to inform him about what was happening to her. “I had already used my Nebulizer twice and when I called my husband, he told me to take a rest and then go home.”

Soon after, Bernie realized that the rest wasn’t helping and that she needed to get out, find her landlord and ask to be dropped to the hospital. But the landlord was not there.

“I was rushing and I came out of the gate and I was waving in the middle of the road. Then when she stopped, all I can remember is that I told her to drop me to Doctors Hospital. After that all I remember is when the doctor told me that he was going to incubate me. They took a couple of pictures of me and when I looked at them, I couldn’t even recognize myself.” Bernie went into respiratory arrest not long after Monique had gotten her to the hospital and then she went into respiratory failure.

Doctors Hospital nurse Cherry Martin-Knowles, who knows and has worked closely with Bernie was part of the code team and says she didn’t immediately recognize her friend and colleague because of how blue and swollen she was.

“I was helping Dr. Iferenta incubate her and it wasn’t until he said ‘do you have any medical information on Bernie,’ did I realize who was on the table,” she says. “I was fine until I knew it was her.”

Bernie is recovering fine thanks to the quick action of the team at Doctors Hospital Emergency Room and of course, the help she received from a stranger who happened to be driving by.

“I am so thankful that there are still good people out there. And I’m so thankful for my Doctors Hospital family for helping me,”she adds.