I write this public letter of thanks in the hope it will prolong other’s lives and the life of our Pambula Hospital and at the same time affirm the amazing professional work of our local medical fraternity and ambulance service.
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Last Tuesday afternoon, I experienced the painful symptoms of a heart attack at home, including central tense chest pains that also affected both my arms.
I quickly swallowed an asprin and asked my wife Margaret to drive me to Pambula Hospital which was five minutes away from Yowaka River.
I knew an ambulance was the preferred option, but even if one was available at the Merimbula station, it would take the ambulance officer 20 to 25 minutes to travel to Yowaka then back to Pambula.
I knew I didn’t have that time as the pain increased.
I was so lucky a public hospital was only five minutes away and I believe if Bega Hospital was my only option I might not have been around to write this letter.
Within seconds of entering the hospital and reporting to Emergency, nurse Trish Hards had me attached to oxygen, started triage, did an ECG, while others searched for the doctor on duty, Doctor James Boyd.
The doctor was only minutes away and with nurses’ Trish and Debbi they soon realised I had a blocked artery in the heart and worked quickly to stabilise me, thin the blood and dissolve the clot.
Doctor Boyd rang cardiologists in Canberra during those six hours of stressful recovery until an ambulance was available and I was transported to Canberra Hospital where Doctor Simon O’Connor organised a coronary angioplasty and a drug eluding stent to my right coronary artery.
I left the hospital two and a half days later with a new lease of life and pain free.
I also left with a greater respect for our medical fraternity who serve us so well and I will not take my good health for granted again, I have been given a second chance.
Finally thankyou to my amazing family and the hundreds who offered their prayers and concerns for my health, it was ‘heart-healing’ and humbling.
John ‘Lazarus’ Liston
Yowaka