Yesterday we travelled from Dicky Beach to Burnett Heads. Burnett Heads is on the coast West from Bundaberg on the Southern bank at the mouth of the Burnett River. We set up camp at Lighthouse Holiday Park. The coast here is mostly rocky with very few sandy beaches to be found. The tides are starting to get bigger with a difference of about 3m currently between high & low.

Today was a bit different.

We headed into Bundaberg early, well it was before 10am, with a view to touring the Ginger Beer & Bundaberg Rum factory. Before that we thought a trip to the Bundaberg Visitor Information Centre would help with planning a couple of reef/snorkelling activities.

Glad to be out of the heat, Jayne was wandering about in the air conditioned info centre collecting various brochures & I was sitting on one of the lounge chairs reading about diving on the reef with Manta Rays & turtles. This was about 10:10am.

A French girl, probably about 30ish, sat down on a lounge chair next to me. These days, as I’m now an old pensioner, I reckon I can refer to any woman, younger than me & who isn’t retired, as a girl. Anyway, it wasn’t long before it became obvious that she was in pain.  One of the female staff was telling her she could stay as long as she wanted & just sit there until she felt better. The staff member then went off to assist someone else. Evidently, a bit earlier, one of the staff had called for an ambulance but the girl had decided she felt better and would just wait a while. She was backpacking around Australia & wasn’t sure if she had travel insurance & if not could certainly not afford any ambulance or medical costs. 

By now it was a bout 10:30am & I asked her if she was OK. She looked a little distressed but figured she would be OK in a little while. The pain had been happening on & off since about 8am. Jayne & I sat with her for maybe 20 minutes and in that time she had 3 lots of pain in her chest that made her hunch over. Both Jayne & I had put her straight in the heart attack basket but we couldn’t convince her of that (as a smoker with a family history of heart disease?). We chatted a bit longer & she mentioned this was her first month of a 12 month trip around Australia in an “El Cheapo” Jucy Budget van. During this time Jayne rang the local medical centre and then the hospital to find out what it would cost to be just “checked” for a heart attack. Evidently it’s about $800 to say “yes it might be ” or “no it may not be” a heart attack & then many thousands of dollars on top of that if it’s a “yes/maybe”. 

We offered her a lift as our car was just outside & the hospital emergency dept was only a few hundred metres away. Close but too far for a potential heart attack to walk. She kept saying that she wouldn’t be able to afford to stay in Aus if she had to pay for hospital. I told her “well, that’s not gunna matter much when you’re dead…” Still she resisted until the next lot of pain hit & then she agreed for us to take her to emergency. I walked slowly with her to the car. Jayne headed off to emergency on foot to direct me into a drop off spot. By the time I got there Jayne flagged me down & escorted her into emergency & I joined them after parking the car.



 

Triage was the usual mix of infected fingers, screaming kids, elderly dealing with falls and lots of worried people waiting in the waiting room for a diagnosis from the ER that seems miles away behind solenoid locked doors. I waited in the triage line & by this time the French girl was saying she felt better & didn’t want treatment. However Jayne & I had decided we’d get some tests done even if we had to pay for it. 

Just then, a Mum & Dad came up to the triage line with a sorry looking boy who’d cut his forehead. It may have needed one stitch or some super glue but he wasn’t too bad as I managed to get a grin out of him.

When the woman at the front of the queue suggested the young boy could go first, Jayne switched on bossy efficient person mode & said “heart attack trumps cut on forehead” & with elbows out, strutted up to the front of the queue & started talking to the triage nurse.  Forms were produced and the French girl was able to standup & fill out some details with Jayne’s help. At one point there was a delay when admin wanted some one to come down from “Revenue” to explain the costs to the French girl.  Jayne then said “I’ll take care of that later, just get us to a doctor” & then both Jayne & the French girl disappeared behind the solenoid door into ER. 

I sat in the waiting room. Waited, wondered & waited some more. 

Meanwhile on the other side of the ER door. The French girl was eventually put on a bed and waited for a nurse. A nurse hooked her up to an ECG & said it looks normal & didn’t think she was having a heart attack, maybe a bit of heartburn or indigestion. While the nurse was adjusting the printer on the ECG, Jayne watched the French girl move further up the bed. She said her fingers were starting to tingle then she arched her back, her eyes rolled back into her head, she quivered a few times & then went limp. The ECG machine started to scream. The nurse hit the emergency code blue button & started chest compressions & all of a sudden there were 10 people around the bed & lots of action. Jayne was escorted, shaking, to a waiting area. Someone then let me in to see Jayne & we sat for a while feeling a bit helpless as the medical crew did what they do.

After a time a nurse told us that the French girl had a cardiac arrest & had been revived. They had her on blood thinners & were monitoring her closely. We were told to come back in an hour & maybe we could see her.

We left emergency for a quick lunch at 12:15pm & returned to check on her at 1:15pm. Luckily they let us in to visit & she looked much better. The blood thinners had started to work and all the pain had gone. She couldn’t thank us enough for forcing her to hospital. The doctor informed us that she was being moved to Nambour hospital for more testing & most likely a stent.  Her mum evidently has a similar condition. With not a lot of time to go we wished her luck, Jayne gave her our details & we left her just before the helicopter was due to pick her up for the trip to Nambour Hospital at 1:55pm.

We spoke to the social worker that had been assigned to her case. She was going to look after her personal effects, campervan, etc. They’d already contacted her Mother back in France & they were able to have a bit of a post attack chat together.

Jayne & I left the hospital still shaking. 

As far as costs go, allegedly, it’s worried about later. If she can’t afford to pay, then it’s likely she’ll be able to return to France but as long as she doesn’t revisit Australia, the costs may not be recovered. We can only hope her travel VISA card did have travel insurance included. 

2pm. Bundaberg Rum Factory tour & Jayne really did need a stiff drink.

I got to give my old mate a hug.

The rest of the day has all been a bit surreal. 

We also probably purchased more rum then we needed to…

YOLO!!!

(You Only Live Once)

09 May This entry was published on 09/05/2016 at 9:52 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.