While no day on the job is boring for a nurse, this day seemed to be extra entertaining. I am sure that while she was thinking about the day ahead of her, this nurse never imagined providing CPR to a drunken raccoon.
Talk About An Unlikely Patient: Nurse Gives Drunken Raccoon CPR
No wonder the video of this moment went viral. After all, it is not every day that a nurse gives a drunken raccoon CPR. Misty Combs, a Kentucky nurse, was just on her way to work at the Letcher County Health Department. While she was heading inside, she noticed a particularly frantic raccoon in the parking lot. After further investigation, she and her colleagues learned that the poor raccoon's pups had been trapped in a nearby dumpster. When speaking with Lex 18, Combs shared that their health facility is located right beside Kentucky Mist Moonshine, a distillery. The distillery had put some fermented peaches in their dumpster.
Fermented peaches must smell great to these adorable little trash pandas, so the raccoon pups wasted no time jumping in. Once Combs discovered what was happening, she shared that her motherly instincts just kicked in.
She shared, "I just saw that mama and she was trying so hard to get her babies back, but she didn't know what to do."
From there, Combs took a shovel and scooped out the first raccoon with no issues. As soon as it was freed, it reunited with its mother. Unfortunatley, the second raccoon pup was in a much more dire state. That poor baby was completely submerged in the fermented peaches and moonshine. Lex 18 shared that Combs "grabbed him by the tail and laid him down." All those at the scene told Combs to move on, that the poor creature was dead.
Despite the fact that the raccoon was not moving or breathing, Combs refused to give up its home. In the now viral video, you can see Combs as she begins to pat the raccoon's back, desperate to dislodge the liquid from its lungs. Afterward, the nurse began to perform CPR on the drunken raccoon. While she avoided the mouth-to-mouth portion, she did provide chest compressions over and over again. Eventually, the raccoon responded and gave a sign of life — moving ever so slightly.
"Come on, come on, baby!" Combs encouraged the creature.
"The entire time I was doing it, I was sort of scared it would come to and eat me up," Combs said, addressing her fear of the situation. "Raccoons carry rabies, so I was afraid of that."
However, even her fear did not stop her from saving this little life. Luckily, Fish and Wildlife arrived before the raccoon sobered up, and they were able to transport him to a local vet for recovery. When it was finally time for him to be reunited with his mother in the wild, Combs received the honor of releasing him.
