Chapter 26 — The First Heartbeat

Part VI — The First Heartbeat

In March, when Hanoi's spring began to cool down, giving way to the first warm winds signaling the coming of summer, the Red Cross Club of Phan Dinh Phung High School received another important news. Ms. Lien, representative of the city Red Cross, personally came to the school to directly inform Ms. Hoa and the club's board of directors.

"After the success of the Community First Aid Festival in November, and our club's excellent rate of achieving basic certification, the Association decided to choose Phan Dinh Phung school as one of five schools representing the city participating in the City Level First Aid Skills Assessment Competition, held at the end of April," Ms. Lien announced at the club's special meeting. "This is not simply an individual exam like the previous basic certification round, but a comprehensive assessment program, including a team competition, to select the best teams to receive city-level certificates and represent the city in exchanges with other provinces."

That news caused the whole club to stir with excitement. This is a great honor, a rare opportunity to affirm the club's position not only within the school but also across the city.

"The assessment program will include three parts," Ms. Lien further explained. "The team theory test, the advanced individual skills test — including techniques more complex than the basic certification such as dealing with multiple injuries, and especially, the final test will be a large-scale realistic situation drill, simulating an event with many victims at the same time, requiring the whole team to coordinate smoothly and fully apply the skills learned, including triage."

Thien Kim felt a familiar thrill rising up when she heard about the real-life situation competition, but this time, different from the panic of previous months, it was a thrill mixed with excitement, looking forward to challenging herself at a new level.

After the meeting, Ms. Hoa privately gathered the core group — Minh Vu, Thien Kim, Duc, Trang, and Phong — to discuss selecting a team to participate in the team competition, which is limited to five official members per school.

"I believe all five of you are capable of joining the main squad," Ms. Hoa said. "But I want to ask your opinion first, especially about the role of team captain. Minh Vu, as homeroom teacher and also about to graduate, who do you think should be the team captain for this competition?"

Minh Vu did not hesitate. "I recommend Thien Kim," he said, looking straight at her with confidence. "Not only because of his skills, but because of his ability to stay calm and lead the team in pressure situations — something I think he has clearly demonstrated throughout his entire journey."

The whole room turned to look at Thien Kim, waiting for her reaction. Four months ago, she probably would have immediately refused, citing her lack of experience and perfection to take on such an important role. But now, after everything she's been through — from freezing, to getting up, to learning to accept her imperfections — she feels a new, much more solid confidence.

"I'll take that role," she said, her voice as firm and without hesitation as before. "But I want to be clear, I don't accept it because I think I will never make a mistake again. I accept it because I believe that, even if I make mistakes, I can still lead the team through it, just like how the whole club helped me overcome my own difficulties."

Ms. Hoa smiled, her eyes full of pride. "That's exactly the answer you expected to hear, Thien Kim."

Over the next six weeks, the team entered an unprecedented period of intensive training, with a much more intense schedule than they had experienced before the basic certification exam. In addition to regular practice sessions, Ms. Hoa also invited an emergency doctor from the city hospital to teach advanced techniques - handling multiple injuries, assessing and stabilizing victims in complex situations, and working in coordination in a large-scale team.

Thien Kim, as team leader, not only has to practice her own personal skills but also learn how to assign and coordinate the whole team in increasingly complex simulation exercises. This is a completely new challenge, requiring not only technical skills but also leadership, communication, and quick decision-making under pressure.

"I feel so pressured," she confessed to Minh Vu during a late night practice session, when the whole team had left and only two people remained to clean up. "It's not just the pressure of personal skills anymore, but also the responsibility of leading the team. If you make a mistake, not only you will suffer the consequences, but the whole team will be affected."

"I understand that feeling," Minh Vu replied, sitting down next to her. "But do you remember what you learned? About accepting your limitations, about not having to be perfect to deserve the position you have. That's still true, even though your responsibility is greater now than before."

"I know," Thien Kim nodded. "But theory is one thing, but actually facing that pressure is another."

"Then let's just keep practicing, step by step, like you've been doing for the past six months," Minh Vu said, his voice encouraging. "I believe you will do well, not because you will never be afraid, but because you have learned how to act even when you are still afraid."

Those words have now become a familiar mantra between the two, giving Thien Kim the strength to continue through each challenging practice session. She realized that, while the context and scale of the challenge changed — from a simple CPR practice session to leading an entire city-level competition team — the core lesson she learned along her journey remained the same: progress doesn't come from completely eliminating fear, but from learning to act meaningfully despite that fear.

In addition to the pressure of training, Thien Kim also has to balance the preparation of university admission documents, because this time also coincides with the period when universities begin to announce admission methods. She decided to apply to the Nursing major at a large medical university in Hanoi, a decision that six months ago she did not even dare to think about.

"I'm afraid I won't have enough time for both things," she shared with Tuyet Mai during a group study night, when they were both reviewing lessons in the school library. "You have to practice for the city-level exam, you have to complete your application, and you have to study for the upcoming graduation exam."

"You'll do it," Tuyet Mai reassured, not taking her eyes off the book she was reading. "You've managed much more difficult things than that. Besides, I think, the very things you learned from the club — how to assess priorities, how to allocate time, how to stay calm under pressure — will help you manage this better than many others."

Thien Kim laughed lightly at that comment, realizing that her friend was right - the principle of triage, prioritizing in situations with many requests at the same time, is now not only applicable to first aid, but can also be applied to the way she manages her life.

She created a detailed timetable, clearly dividing time for each task, dedicating Sundays to completing university applications, and alternating weeknights between studying for graduation exams and practicing skills for the exam team. She also learned how to ask for help when needed, and no longer tried to take care of everything by herself like before - a small but significant change compared to the girl who always checked her first aid kit herself three or four times a day because she didn't trust anyone else to do it better than her.

Minh Vu, despite being busy with his own college entrance exam preparation, still made time to support her whenever possible, sometimes simply sitting next to each other studying in silence at the library, sometimes reviewing first aid procedures together during lunch. That companionship, although not noisy or ostentatious, became a solid source of motivation to help Thien Kim get through the busiest and most stressful period of the entire school year.

That night, when she got home, Thien Kim wrote in her notebook: "In six weeks it will be the biggest exam I've ever participated in, with the biggest role I've ever taken on. I'm still afraid, perhaps I will always be afraid to some extent. But this time, I don't let that fear stop me from moving forward. I think, that's the biggest difference between me six months ago and me now."