[Carlyne]
It was about 9:30 at night. I was sitting watching TV and I was starting to get breathless, so I went to bed and I took some Ventolin and I took some oxygen. By 2:00 I could not breathe at all, so I had to ring the ambulance and they was there within three minutes and took me to the Batlow District Hospital.
[Jessica Brooks]
Carlyne presented to hospital by local ambulance with acute respiratory distress.
[Carlyne]
When I got into the Batlow hospital, nurses did an ECG and gave me oxygen, and they did the blood pressure and a lot of checks on me, and then they got hold of a doctor in Wagga.
[Jessica Brooks]
The patient will present to hospital and the nurse will do a triage assessment and determine they're critically unwell with odds outside the flags or just the nurse is concerned. So they'll call through on the critical care line and we'll start the treatment process.
Critical care advisory service, Jess speaking. Yeah, sure. Can I get some patient details, please?
When the critical care phone rings, we answer it as a priority call. We take some brief patient information, take some clinical information to assess the acuity of the patient. When we determine they are critically unwell, we'll link in a critical care doctor. We'll turn the critical care cameras on so we can see the patients in the resuscitation bay and we'll start determining treatment and transfer of care.
[Carlyne]
I went by ambulance to the Wagga Hospital and they gave me heaps of oxygen and steroids and Ventolin, and I was there for five days and then came home. So I just want to say how grateful I am for all the medical staff that did such a wonderful job, because I'm sure I would've died that last asthma attack I had, because I could not breathe at all. It's very reassuring knowing the nurses here can get in touch with the specialists in Wagga through the camera and they can tell the nurses what sort of treatment I need. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I mean, I could have died if I hadn't have rung the ambulance because I just could not breathe at all, and I couldn't lift the blankets off me legs even to sit on the edge of the bed or anything. I was in a bad way. I'm so glad to all the medical staff that helped me through all this because I can now enjoy my life with my grandchildren and my children.
