Hilton team members save life of hotel guest suffering heart attack

A moving story was recently told far and wide in Suzhou City, Anhui Province. Frank Huang, Deputy Manager of Safety and Security, DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Anhui – Suzhou, and fellow Team Members used first aid skills, developed through regular training, and deftly operated the hotel’s first aid equipment to save the life of a guest suffering sudden cardiac arrest.

At around 8:20 a.m. on April 17, a hotel guest was walking around the hotel’s western carpark and suddenly passed out. When receiving a call for help, Frank Huang and his fellow Team Members, including Front Office Manager Alex Chen, Customer Service Manager Oscar Liu and Deputy Chief Engineer Jack Li, rushed to the scene. When seeing that the guest had collapsed, had difficulty breathing and turned purple, they immediately took action. As the guest’s symptoms did not respond to their efforts, Huang performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) after evaluating that the guest had likely suffered a suspected sudden cardiac arrest.

Meanwhile, Alex Chen dispatched someone right away to bring the automated external defibrillator (AED) always available at the hotel, and assisted Huang with defibrillation on the guest. In combination with CPR, Huang operated the AED. The guest began breathing faintly on his own, when an ambulance arrived, just over ten minutes after the incident began. Then, with the help of Frank Huang and others, the guest was taken to Wanbei General Hospital. The guest has now fully recovered.

Hilton has consistently prioritized the health and safety of its guests and Team Members, a commitment that informs its Team Member training programs. Their routine training in hospitality practices and skills in hygiene, safety and first aid proved to be the key to success in saving this guest’s life.

“The health and safety of our guests and Team Members remains Hilton’s our top priority. With this in mind, routine training of our Team Members is a serious and critical endeavor,” said Qian Jin, Area President, Hilton Greater China and Mongolia. “Frank Huang’s actions have demonstrated the valuable achievements of these trainings. We are encouraged to put even more emphasis on health and safety in the future as part of helping guests feel the light and warmth of Hilton Hospitality, and providing our guests with assurance and peace of mind when they stay at any Hilton hotel.”

The hotel’s long-term commitment to training Team Members proved essential to the success of saving this guest’s life. To raise awareness and hone the skills of all Team Members, DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Anhui – Suzhou invites the Red Cross Society each quarter to offer training on AED use and first aid knowledge, ensuring Team Members in every department master relevant skills. Each Team Member also must participate in Food Safety Annual Audit (FSAA) training and assessments every week or month and are qualified only if they earn 90 points (on a 0-100 scale). Moreover, the hotel provides training on Make IT Right (MIR) service skills every month to help Team Members continually improve, yet another iteration of the hotel taking responsibility for the hygiene and safety of its guests.

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