Good timing: Intern who saved woman’s life after MRT accident was on her way to visit aunt

Charleanne Jandic was at the Ayala station of the MRT on Tuesday afternoon when a young woman fell onto the tracks just as a train was pulling out of the station.

The train's bogie rolled over part of Angeline Fernando's body, and severed her arm completely.

Jandic, who was on her way to visit her aunt, acted quickly. A postgraduate medical intern at the Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center, she knew that she had to stanch the bleeding right away.

"Medyo mahirap nang konti kasi duguan siya, so nag-focus ako doon sa pinaka-concern, which is ang naputol na bahagi ng braso niya," she told GMA News Online.

With the assistance of a police officer whom she later learned was a registered nurse, Jandic tied a cardigan and a police officer's belt around the stump, then instructed station guards to call for an ambulance while she checked the victim for other injuries.

The 27-year-old physician-in-training said she was thankful to the guards, who followed her instructions and looked as if they had some first aid training, though she noted the gravity of the incident may have been beyond their capability.

"Siguro po further first aid training [ang kailangan] to cover situations gaya ng kahapon," she said.

Jandic, a recent graduate of the University of the Visayas Gullas School of Medicine, waited at the Makati Medical Center until Fernando was stable, then took her leave. After all, her aunt was still waiting for her.

Thanks in large part to Jandic's quick thinking and expert, compassionate actions, the incident has a positive ending: Fernando's arm was later successfully reattached.

Dr. Jandic downplays her role, saying that it was only a matter of timing that she had been in the station at all.

"Ginawa ko lang po talaga 'yung dapat gawin," she said.

"If it was another person with training on how to handle situations like yesterday [at the station], they would have done the same thing," she said. — with a report by Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/BM/KG, GMA News