AUTUMN 2007 The Newsletter for the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust grateful wife has paid tribute to the car-borne paramedic who saved “He had been poorly the night before but now I could see him deteriorating her husband’s life. in front of me as I dialed 999. Carpet-fitter David Hurley had a heart attack at his home in “I put the phone down and told one of my sons to go outside and look for APentrebane, Cardiff, but paramedic Robin Petterson, 37, was on the scene in the ambulance and as soon as he opened the door Robin was there. minutes in a Rapid Response Vehicle to deliver a clot-busting injection. “He went through all the procedures and kept me and our sons all calm at David’s wife, Gina, said: “Robin was fantastic. He was so cool and calm and the same time and he gave David the injection. he kept us all calm even though it was the first time he had used this drug.” “When the ambulance arrived there was actually a cardiologist on board The man who has overseen the increased use of RRVs, Deputy Chief and he said Robin had done brilliantly.” Executive Mike Cassidy, said the case underlined their value. Robin, who joined the ambulance service as a cadet at 15, admitted it had He added: “Pre-hospital thrombolysis is the single most important life been a difficult situation: “I had never given the thrombolysing drug before saving example of the Rapid Response Vehicle principle of taking the and I was on my own. treatment to the patient before taking the patient to the treatment. “But I went through everything and asked Mr Hurley for his consent and “We are extremely proud of the life-saving work performed by our he managed to say yes. solo-responding Rapid Response Teams. They have made such a huge “It was certainly touch and go. He was very poorly and looked terrible but contribution to achieving the eight-minute resuscitation response time, and, it’s been a brilliant result.” as we have heard from Mrs Hurley, it really was ‘in time to make a difference’ Gina added: “These RRVs are obviously proving to be fantastic. They get to her husband’s life.” there so fast and if it wasn’t for the RRV in this case where would David be That’s backed up by an influential report by the Welsh Assembly today?” Government’s Lead Clinical Advisor on Cardiac Services. Robin said: “I really love being on the RRVs. It’s a new challenge and they Phil Thomas says that Welsh Ambulance Service Paramedics trained in allow us to target emergencies. This once again proves that these response administering ‘clot-busting’ drugs are driving up the survival rates of patients targets are inextricably linked to improved clinical outcomes for the patients suffering life-threatening heart attacks. and the public that we serve.” The good news is contained in the Myocardial Infarction National Audit Mike Cassidy welcomed the MINAP report and added: “It is a fantastic Project’s annual report, ‘How the NHS manages Heart Attacks’. achievement by our paramedics responding to life-threatening cardiac cases to In the year from April 2006 to March 2007 Welsh paramedics reach this success rate.” thrombolysed 90 per cent of patients within the crucial ‘golden’ hour – the “A vital aspect of the immediate care of a heart attack victim is the time it Government target is 70 per cent. takes to get a patient into contact with a trained person able to diagnose a David Hurley, 50, is living proof of that and is now on the road to recovery heart attack and administer ‘clot-busting’ drugs if needed. after surgery at the University Hospital of Wales. “Every minute of delay in receiving thrombolysis could lead to an average Seven weeks after he so nearly died he is contemplating returning to work loss of 11 days of life.” and he has quit his 40-a-day cigarette habit. “Thrombolysis is probably the most important treatment we will provide The incident happened in June and Gina recalled: “I had just got home for anybody after a heart attack. It makes a phenomenal reduction in and David came upstairs and told me he wasn’t feeling well – he thought he mortality rates.” had heartburn but he was a terrible colour and couldn’t breathe. page 5 page 7 page 12 Fast buck Awards news Carl’s saviour Alan Murray Thank you forBEINGthere Says... couple have praised ambulance staff injection of adrenaline and treatment swells up rapidly so the victim can’t I hope by now that most of you will have had a whose speed and skill saved the by paramedic Roger John saw him pull breathe so they literally choke to chance to have a look at Making the Difference, our husband’s life. through. death unless you can treat them in annual report for 2006-07. AGerald Kember suffered an anaphylactic Mr Kember said: “I had been to the time.” We decided to make the bilingual document shock after taking antibiotics and collapsed dentist with a tooth infection and had Roger’s arrival was followed different from the usual annual report style, a at his home in Llandaff, Cardiff. picked up a prescription of antibiotics on shortly by the ambulance crewed by decision which was more than fitting given the His wife, Jean, thought he had died but my way home for lunch. paramedic Nigel Theo and ambulance unusual year the Service has experienced. We’re dialed 999 and a paramedic was there “I decided to take them then and in no technician Chris Willis and he was doing things differently at all levels and the annual in four minutes, followed closely by an time I could feel a severe itching in my taken to the University of Wales report reflects this. ambulance crew. hands and I could feel my heart pounding. Hospital where he recovered quickly Instead of being the usual collection of statutory It was touch and go “I looked in the mirror and my face was enough to be released the next day. facts and statistics about how the Trust performed, for Mr Kember, bright red and I asked my wife if I looked former teacher who feared she this year’s annual report focuses on you, the staff 60, of Mitre all right – she said I definitely did not. was about to die has said “thank and volunteers who have made such a difference to Place, “But things got worse very, very quickly. you” to the ambulance crew the lives of thousands of people across Wales. The Llandaff, I lay on the settee and by the time the Awho, within a couple of minutes, were facts and figures are all still there, but every page but an paramedics arrived I was more or less able to help and reassure her. mentions an individual or a team. unconscious. Pamela Jones said the response from The aim was to bring the facts and figures to “The last thing I remember was the paramedic Paul ‘PJ’ Pritchard and life with real examples of how we are impacting paramedic saying ‘I can’t find a pulse’ - technician Jon Cross was “absolutely daily on the lives of people across the country. Mrs Doris Evans with her heroes, paramedic Marcus Viggers, left, and ambulance technician Andy Wilson. my wife thought I’d died.” amazing”. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough room to feature Jean Kember recalled: “It was very “I really thought I was going to die,” each and every one of you who has contributed frightening. He just changed colour she said. towards our success over the past year. and the whites of his eyes went as The drama began when Pamela, 58, To do so would have taken the document into pensioner who ‘flat-lined’ five No words of mine can fully red as his skin. suffered a severe chest pain as she was thousands of pages. But whether you are featured times has described the ambulance describe my appreciation of “But the paramedic was working in the kitchen of her home in in the report or not the improvements are down to men who saved her life as “unsung their excellent work,” she there very quickly and gave Mold Road, Mynydd Isa. the dedication and hard work of everyone involved heroes”.A said. him a shot of adrenaline “It was as if someone had thrown a in the Service. Thank you for helping to make a Doris Evans, 78, had been unwell since The two colleagues also which revived him after he spear through the window into me,” difference. last September and after experiencing dizzy took the trouble to visit lapsed into unconsciousness.” she said: “I was sure I was having a Every member of staff and volunteer will receive spells had an alarm call system installed at her in the ward the day Roger John, a paramedic heart attack. a copy of Making a Difference. If you haven’t her home in Grove Drive, Pembroke. after she was admitted, for eight years, said: “Mr “I called 999 and the operator coolly received yours by the end of October please contact Then, while her husband Philip was at to check on how she was Kember was very unwell and advised me what to do. A couple of the Corporate Communications Unit on 01745 work, she fell over while getting out of progressing. he looked grossly unwell too. minutes later my husband said the 532948. Making a Difference is also available on bed.