[Pam Jones]
I was a normal active person and within five minutes I was not. I do volunteer work at Vinnies, at the shop, and I went there at 8:30 in the morning, as healthy as anything, went to open the shop up at 9 o'clock, and I can't remember what happened after that. And then they were able to get the ambulance and ring Terry and I got help very quickly. They were just wonderful people, wonderful.
[Terry Jones]
We had a TV link with the professor in Sydney. The professor was on the screen and they're talking to each other, and I've been told it was a stroke and if you get at it within three hours you've got a chance. Well, it was, they were there within three-quarters of an hour. And we had this Professor Butcher, who's supposed to be the number one guy, basically at the bedside within half an hour.
[Professor Ken Butcher]
Pam is the patient that is the reason we do this. Pam's a lady who is previously well. She's got a little high blood pressure, she's got a little high cholesterol, but has never had a major medical event in her life. Her scan demonstrated what I thought would be the case, which was she had a blood clot blocking the major artery to the left side of her brain which controls her speech. Her husband was there and I explained to him what was happening and then I suggested to him that we should administer the clot-busting therapy. In Deniliquin Emergency Department, to put this in context, this therapy had never been given for stroke in the past. This was the first patient, first time this actually occurred. And the nursing staff because they've been trained so well, through the implementation process that we have for our program, were excellent.
[Pam Jones]
If you've got any symptoms whatsoever of having a stroke, get down to the hospital as soon as you can. But you must get down there. Don't leave it till it's too late. Well, the Telestroke Service has just been wonderful. We get medical treatment straight away. Telestroke is just so quick, helpful, and the people that are involved in it, they are so helpful and they give us advice and whatever needs to be done they're there to do it. Thank you, Deni Hospital.
