lifesaving

Travelling by car can make some people feel queasy, but one woman has uncovered a simple trick that might make your sickness vanish – and it involves one simple cold remedy

Travel sickness can make life incredibly difficult for those who struggle with it. It makes using public transport a chore as you have to make sure you’re not going to be sick on an unsuspecting stranger on the train, and even travelling by car can be a nightmare, as many people who suffer can’t drive themselves.

There are many products on the market that claim to tackle travel sickness, such as patches and tablets, but these may not work for everyone, and aren’t always accessible if you suddenly feel motion sick and need effective relief. One woman, however, has claimed that one product most of us have in our medicine cabinets is “life-saving” for travel sickness sufferers.

In a video on Instagram, Kiki Rough explained that she was recently “fighting for her life” while trying not to be sick in the back of a taxi that was taking her to the airport.

She told the taxi driver that if she was sick in the car she would pay for the car to be cleaned and would give the driver a hefty tip for having to deal with the unpleasant situation – but the driver did something unexpected.

Instead of getting angry that Kiki was at risk of vomiting, the driver reached into her pocket and pulled out some Vicks VapoRub, which she handed to Kiki and told her to “put it under her nose”.

Kiki explained: “When I tell you, three decades of my life where I have fought to not throw up on every long-form car trip just disappeared. My nausea? Out the window.”

The kindness of the taxi driver didn’t stop there, as she also pulled out a small, empty container and scooped some of the VapoRub into it, handing it to Kiki for the rest of her journey, along with the sweet message: “Don’t get sick on your flight.”

Commenters on the video were blown away by the trick. Many said it would be “life-saving” for their upcoming trips if the smell of the Vicks product could keep them from feeling sick.

One person said: “I’m actually excited to try a long car ride now. Thank you for sharing this!”

Another added: “This is LIFE SAVING.”

A third wrote: “Did you just change my life with this?”

It’s believed that Vicks VapoRub works because the menthol scent blocks any strong smells that might be exacerbating your illness.

Getting fresh air and breathing in clean smells are proven ways to alleviate motion sickness, and the smell of Vicks could contribute to that.

Advice for dealing with motion sickness

Vicks is not designed to cure motion sickness, and the trick may not work for everyone, but there are other things you can try. According to the NHS, you can try these steps to ease the sickness yourself:

• Reduce motion by sitting in the front seat of a car or the middle of a boat
• Look straight ahead at a fixed point, such as the horizon
• Breathe fresh air if possible – for example, by opening a car window
• Close your eyes and breathe slowly while focusing on your breathing
• Break up long journeys to get some fresh air, drink water or take a walk
• Try ginger to settle the stomach, either as a tablet, in a biscuit, or in tea

The NHS also recommends that you do not do the following:

• Do not read, watch films or use electronic devices
• Do not look at moving objects, such as passing cars or rolling waves
• Do not eat heavy meals, spicy foods, or drink alcohol shortly before or during travel
• Do not go on fairground rides if they make you feel unwell

In the late 1950s, Norwegian toymaker Asmund Laerdal received an unusual brief: to design a life-like mannequin that resembled an unconscious patient.

Peter Safar, an Austrian doctor, had just developed the basics of CPR, a lifesaving technique that keeps blood and oxygen flowing to the brain and vital organs after the heart has stopped beating.

He was eager to teach it to the public, but had a problem – the deep chest compressions often resulted in fractured ribs, which meant practical demonstrations were impossible.

It was in his search for a solution that he was introduced to Laerdal, an intrepid innovator then in his forties who possessed extensive knowledge of soft plastics, honed through years of work with children’s toys and model cars. He had even begun to collaborate with the Norwegian Civil Defence to develop imitation wounds for training purposes.

Laerdal, who had rescued his son from drowning by applying pressure to his ribcage and pushing water out of his lungs just a few years earlier, was eager to help, and the two decided to create a training model.

The Norwegian toymaker had a vision: It needed to look unthreatening, and assuming that men would not want to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on a male dummy, it should be a woman.

So he went looking for a face.

The unknown woman of the Seine

It was on the wall of his parents-in-law’s home in the picturesque Norwegian city of Stavanger that he found it.

It was an oil painting of a young woman, her hair parted and gathered at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were closed peacefully, her lashes matted, and her lips curled in a faint, sorrowful smile.

This was a face which, in the form of a plaster cast, had adorned homes across Europe for decades.

There are many rumours as to how the original mask was created, but one story that has cemented itself as urban legend is that it was of a woman who had supposedly drowned in the Seine River in 19th-century Paris.

In the French capital at the time, it was common for the bodies of the deceased who could not be identified to be placed on black marble slabs and displayed in the window of the city’s morgue situated near Notre Dame Cathedral.

The purpose of this practice was to see if any members of the public would recognise the deceased and be able to provide information about them. Yet, in reality, it became a morbid attraction for Parisians.

As the story goes, a pathologist, struck by her beauty and serene expression, commissioned a sculptor to produce a death mask of her face, a plaster or wax mould of a person made shortly after death.

No documents survive in the Paris police archives, and it is impossible to verify the truth of this story.

However, a sculpture of the supposed death mask captured the public’s imagination, and reproductions of it began to circulate in the early 20th century.

Her face soon decorated Parisian salons and wealthy people’s homes.

The visage was known as L’Inconnue de la Seine – the Unknown Woman of the Seine – and it became a muse for writers, poets, and artists.

The French writer Albert Camus called her the “drowned Mona Lisa”, while the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke said of her serene expression, “It was beautiful, because it smiled, because it smiled so deceptively, as if it knew.”

Resusci Anne

It is not known whether Laderdal was aware of the legend behind the painting in Stavanger, but in 1960, he gave it new life when the first CPR doll was officially launched with the subject’s face.

The doll was given a soft plastic torso – a compressible chest for practising CPR – and open lips for mouth-to-mouth rescue.

She travelled around the world, appearing in fire stations, schools, hospitals, scout groups, and airline training centres, where she was used for CPR training.

She was also finally given a name, “Resusci Anne,” by Laerdal, a shortening of the word “resuscitation”. Anne is a common female name in Norway and France, which suggests that by this stage, the toymaker was aware of the legend behind the face. In the English-speaking world, she became known as “CPR Annie”.

“Annie, are you OK?” became the go-to training phrase as people simulated how to check for responsiveness in the event of a cardiac arrest.

In the 1980s, about a century after Annie was reported to have been found in the Seine, Michael Jackson immortalised her in pop culture.

As the story goes, the superstar heard the phrase during a first aid training session and, struck by the rhythm and urgency of it, worked it into the chart-topping song, Smooth Criminal, repeating it like a heartbeat: “Annie, are you OK? So, Annie, are you OK? Are you OK, Annie?”

‘She would be proud’

Laerdal died in 1981, but the company he founded, Laerdal Medical, continues to be a juggernaut in emergency medical training and the development of cutting-edge healthcare technology.

Annie herself has received technological upgrades, including flashing lights, lung feedback, and sensors that indicated if compressions were off-rhythm.

But her face stayed the same.

Pal Oftedal, director of Corporate Communications at Laerdal Medical, says that regardless of whether the story behind Annie is true, she has had a positive impact on engaging people worldwide in the lifesaving practice of CPR.

He said that one in 20 people would witness a cardiac arrest in their lifetime, with 70 percent occurring outside the home.

The American Heart Association says that immediate CPR can double or even triple a person’s chance of survival after a cardiac arrest.

Annie has been joined by a new selection of mannequins featuring a range of ethnicities, ages, body types, and facial features as Laderdal seeks to diversify its product offerings.

Laerdal Medical estimates that Annie and her fellow resuscitation mannequins have been used to train more than 500 million people worldwide.

Oftedal says that he believes whoever Annie was, he is sure “she would be proud of the important contribution she has made to the world”.

This article is part of ‘Ordinary items, extraordinary stories’, a series about the surprising stories behind well-known items. 

Read more from the series:

How the inventor of the bouncy castle saved lives

How a popular Peruvian soft drink went ‘toe-to-toe’ with Coca-Cola

Bulawayo, Zimbabwe – When Lloyd Muzamba was critically injured in a car accident on the Harare–Bulawayo highway in 2023, he needed an urgent blood transfusion to save his life. Despite being admitted at Mpilo Central Hospital, the biggest public health facility in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland region, a shortage of supplies meant the doctors didn’t have enough for him.

In desperation, Muzamba’s family turned to their only other option – a nearby private hospital that sold them the three pints of blood. But at a cost of $250 per pint, Muzamba – who earned a $270 monthly salary and had no savings – could not afford it.

With time running out, the family had to make a plan. Eventually, Muzamba’s uncle sold a cow for $300 and asked other relatives to contribute the balance.

Two years on, the now recovered Muzamba says the incident has left him psychologically wounded, as he worries about other emergencies when people may need lifesaving blood.

“Three pints can be a small number; others might need more than that. But due to the costs involved, it becomes life-threatening,” said the 35-year-old, who works in a hardware store in Bulawayo.

“I could not get the blood without paying or making a payment plan. It was a painful experience for an ordinary Zimbabwean like me.”

Muzamba’s is not an isolated case.

With ongoing currency woes, rising costs of living and high levels of poverty, desperate Zimbabweans in need of care face life-threatening delays due to financial barriers. This includes blood shortages – despite supplies being free in public health facilities.

Tanaka Moyo, a mother of two in the capital Harare, also experienced the stress of needing to pay for emergency blood supplies during the delivery of her second child.

After excessive postpartum haemorrhaging, the 38-year-old street vendor needed four pints of blood.

Together with her husband, a security guard, she had struggled to raise money for the birth of their child. The sudden need for a blood transfusion was a shocking unplanned cost.

“My husband ran around and borrowed money from a microfinance institution. The interests are steep and conditions stringent, but he had to act quickly,” said Moyo.

“At the hospital, they insisted the blood was free – but it was not available.”

Plaxedes Charuma, a gynaecologist in Bulawayo, says “postpartum haemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal mortality”. The prevalence of the condition means that hospitals should always have supplies on hand to deal with maternal blood loss emergencies that arise, health experts say.

According to the Community Working Group on Health (CWGH), a network of civic health organisations in Zimbabwe, the country faces a high demand for blood transfusions, and those most affected are pregnant women.

“About half a million pregnancies are expected in Zimbabwe, and in some of these, there is excessive blood loss, requiring transfusion of at least three pints of blood,” said Itai Rusike, CWGH’s executive director.

“Maternal mortality in Zimbabwe remains unacceptably high,” Rusike told Al Jazeera. “Timely blood transfusion prevents maternal deaths, which in Zimbabwe stands at 212 women dying per every 100,000 live births.”

‘Free blood for all’

Generally, there are two major types of blood transfusions: allogeneic and autologous. Autologous transfusion refers to self-same blood donation by an individual for their own use later. Allogeneic transfusion, which is the most common in Zimbabwe, involves administering blood donated by one person to another who matches their blood type.

The National Blood Service Zimbabwe (NBSZ) is the body that oversees blood donation and distribution in the country. It operates as an independent not-for-profit entity, but it is mandated by law to collect, process and distribute blood throughout Zimbabwe.

While the Ministry of Health and Child Care is permanently represented on its board of directors, NBSZ functions independently of hospitals and government health institutions. It is not present in every facility, but maintains decentralised distribution from five regional centres: Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Masvingo and Mutare.

Historically, patients in Zimbabwe paid for blood, but over the years the government worked on lowering costs – from $150 a pint in 2016 and prior to $50 by 2018.

The government then went a step further in July that year, deciding that blood would be made free at all public health institutions.

“The free blood for all move is going ahead as planned and mechanisms have already been put in place to finance the move, and come July 1 [2018], blood will be available for free,” said then-Minister of Health and Child Care Dr David Parirenyatwa during the June 2018 World Blood Donor Day celebrations.

However, despite the policy, hospitals continue to face shortages.

This May, there was a critical lack of blood in public hospitals, a situation that threatened the lives of thousands of people, the Ministry of Health and Child Care said in a statement. Al Jazeera contacted ministry spokesperson Donald Mujiri to ask about the shortage and the implementation of the free blood policy, but he did not respond to our requests for comment.

NBSZ, meanwhile, said that May’s shortage was due to operational and systemic challenges that disrupted its ability to carry out routine blood collection activities.

“Without timely financial support, we faced constraints in mobilising outreach teams, securing fuel, and procuring essential supplies,” Vickie Maponga, NBSZ communications officer, told Al Jazeera.

“Additionally, the crisis was exacerbated by a seasonal dip in donations, particularly from youth, who make up over 70 percent of our donor base.”

These shortages regularly result in patients on the front line needing to buy blood at private clinics. In most cases, the patient is physically transferred to the private facility for the transfusion, where they pay the costs. In some cases, the patient pays and the private hospital sends the blood to them in the public hospital.

Crucial blood donations

The World Health Organization (WHO) aims to ensure that all countries practicing blood transfusions obtain their blood supplies from voluntary blood donors.

The NBSZ told Al Jazeera that a sustainable blood supply in Zimbabwe depends on cultivating a culture of regular, voluntary donations, particularly among the youth and underserved communities.

The service has a mobile outreach model, through which it brings blood donation drives directly to schools and communities. To further engage the youth, Maponga said they also started a club that “encourages young people to commit to donating blood at least 25 times in their lifetime”.

“We also integrate blood donation awareness into school programmes and partner with tertiary institutions to maintain continuity post-high school,” she said.

Ivy Khumalo, 32, is one of those who has been donating blood since she was in high school. But she says the lack of blood donation centres around her now limits her ability to give as an adult.

“As a school child, it was [first started] as a result of peer pressure, but I found it fascinating,” Khumalo said. “It was only when I was an adult that I made a personal decision to continue donating out of love to save life and help those in need.”

But since moving from Bulawayo to Hwange, she said, donating blood has become expensive as the nearest centre is in Victoria Falls, over 100km (62 miles) away.

NBSZ says it routinely deploys mobile blood drives around the country. It also says it offers donors incentives.

“Regular donors who meet specific criteria such as having made at least 10 donations, with the most recent within the past 12 months, qualify for free blood and blood products for themselves and their immediate family members … in times of medical need,” explained Maponga.

However, for keen donors like Khumalo, the effort to reach a far-off donation site is a barrier to entry.

“In such circumstances, it is no longer a free donation as I spent money going there. In the end, most of us decide to stay home despite the passion for blood donation,” she said.

CWGH’s Rusike says the NBSZ and Ministry of Health and Child Care must urgently devise innovative and sustainable ways to increase the number of eligible blood donors.

“The government should utilise the Health Levy Fund of 5 percent tax on airtime and mobile data as it was set up to specifically subsidise the cost of blood and assist public health institutions to replace obsolete equipment and address the perennial drug shortages in our public health institutions,” he said. “That money should be ring-fenced and used for its intended purpose in a more accountable and transparent manner.”

Promises and shortages

Authorities say that as of mid-2025, Zimbabwe’s national blood supply is showing good progress, and NBSZ has already collected over 73 percent of its half-year target (the 2025 annual target is 97,500 units).

The blood service also says the Ministry of Health and Child Care plays a central role in both subsidising and overseeing the cost of blood within the public health sector.

“Since 2018, this [free blood policy] is made possible through a government-funded coupon system, which absorbs the full cost of $250 per unit, resulting in zero cost to the recipient [in public hospitals],” said Maponga.

The NBSZ maintains that it operates on a cost recovery basis. It says the entire chain of collecting, processing and distributing a pint of blood costs $245. The agency charges $250, making a $5 profit per pint.

However, prices at some private facilities can reach as much as $500 per pint, Zimbabweans say. This has sparked heated debate on social media, as the high cost remains far out of reach for many people.

“NBSZ does not have regulatory authority over how those institutions price their services to patients,” said Maponga, explaining that while blood itself is donated freely, the journey from “vein to vein” involves a complex and resource-intensive process.

Observers, however, say more can be done to lower the costs of blood transfusions.

“At closer look, the whole chain of blood transfusion can cost less than $150 by strategically deploying available resources, use of financial donor stakeholders like corporates, and also holding the government accountable to fund the whole process,” said Carlton Ntini, a socioeconomic justice activist in Bulawayo.

The issue of free blood in the public hospitals is noble, Ntini said, but without full implementation, it remains a false hope and only benefits the “lucky” few, as shortages are the order of the day.

“In reality, any amount above $50 per pint of blood will still be high to Zimbabweans, and it’s a death sentence,” he said.

Meanwhile, for patients, the cost of essentials only adds to an already stressful situation.

Muzamba was fortunate in that his family did not claim back the money they gave him for his blood transfusion. But Moyo and her husband struggled to settle their $1,000 loan debt, which escalated to $1,400 after interest.

“It psychologically drained me more than the physical pain as I wondered, ‘Where would I get such money in this economy?’” said Moyo. “The government must own up to its promises – it’s not only about being free, but must be accessible.”

WASHINGTON — The family of a 4-year-old Bakersfield girl with a rare medical condition has been granted humanitarian protection from deportation, allowing her to continue receiving lifesaving treatment in the United States.

The plight of the girl, who The Times has identified by her initials, S.G.V., drew public outrage and galvanized dozens of lawmakers to advocate on her behalf. The girl and her parents, who are from Mexico, originally received temporary permission to enter the U.S. legally through Tijuana in 2023.

The Trump administration had rescinded the legal protections of S.G.V. and her parents, leaving them vulnerable to deportation. Her doctor at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles said she could die within days of losing her medical care for short bowel syndrome, a condition that prevents her body from completely absorbing nutrients from food.

Last week, 38 congressional Democrats, including California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, condemned the termination of the family’s status and urged the Department of Homeland Security to reinstate it.

“Without action, S.G.V. will die,” the lawmakers wrote May 29 to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. “We urge a prompt response from your Department and a swift decision to extend this family’s legal status in the U.S.” The lawmakers wrote that the family’s situation “clearly meets the need for humanitarian aid.”

In a letter Monday to the family and their attorney, acting field office director Carmen Paniagua of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services wrote: “This is to advise you that effective June 2, 2025, you have been granted Humanitarian Parole for a period of one year.”

In April, the girl’s mother, Deysi Vargas, received notice from the federal government that their humanitarian protections and permission to work legally had been terminated. The notice told them to leave voluntarily or else “the federal government will find you.”

An online fundraiser for S.G.V.’s care amassed more than $40,000 as of Tuesday.