THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9504270136
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: Ron Speer
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
One of the worries of newcomers to the Outer Banks is what will happen when they or their loved ones get seriously sick.
That issue is of particular concern to senior citizens settling down here in increasing numbers who discover the closest hospital is in Elizabeth City or Chesapeake.
With an 87-year-old mother-in-law in our house, I too worried about what we would do if something suddenly happened.
Well, it did.
And I don't worry anymore about whether she could be properly taken care of.
We called 911 about dawn 10 days ago when Louise could barely breathe. The Emergency Medical Services ambulance rolled up to our hard-to-find house on Roanoke Island within minutes. Full-time EMS staffers Tim Rhodes, Carol Sheaves and Duncan Wright soon had her calmed and hooked to an oxygen tank and a heart monitor. They were quickly in radio contact with emergency-room doctors at Chesapeake General Hospital.
They gently put her on a stretcher and carefully carried her down a few steps and into the ambulance.
``You're the gentlest people I've ever met,'' Louise them told over and over as they took her to the Outer Banks Medical Center in Nags Head, open round-the-clock. They ran her through a few tests, talked to the experts in Chesapeake and decided she needed hospitalization.
When EMS veteran Greg Leitz came to ready her for the trip to Chesapeake, he told Louise: ``Tim Rhodes said we're going to love you, because you're the nicest patient he ever had.''
Sick as she was, Louise beamed. Leitz, Betty Jo Braxton and highschooler Carey Scott quickly transferred her to another ambulance and raced off.
Leitz hooked her to a heart monitor and other devices and kept Chesapeake General doctors abreast of her condition, while Carey comforted her. Braxton drove and I rode shotgun to ease Louise's worries, but I wasn't really needed. She chatted with Leitz and occasionally sang remembered verses of the '20s theme song, ``The Charleston.''
I was a lot more uptight in the front passenger seat as Braxton turned on the siren and ran red lights on the bypass. It's scary wondering whether cars will stop at intersections - and Braxton kept me tense with horror stories about what happens when some ignoramus keeps coming despite the roaring sirens.
It's particularly frightening in the summer when a never-ending stream of cars makes the passage treacherous. We had no trouble, however, and in little more than an hour Louise - who gave Leitz a thank you kiss and raved about ``the kindness of all of you'' - was under her doctor's care in Chesapeake General.
It was the second time in a month the medical services on the Outer Banks had come through for us. I had a cataract removed at the Regional Medical Center in Kitty Hawk earlier and couldn't have been happier with the staff, the Elizabeth City doctor and the care at the facilities affiliated with Albemarle Hospital at Elizabeth City.
The Regional Medical Center does all kinds of out-patient surgery, and also provides MRI diagnosis.
I'm not trying in any way to influence the debate over the need for a hospital on the Outer Banks. I don't have any expertise on that issue.
I just thought you might be interested to know what happens when something does go wrong. And Louise - only weeks away from her 88th birthday - will be coming home soon with a better heart, thanks to bypass surgery and the paramedics who got her there in time. She'll be glad to tell you how she feels about the care in Dare. by CNB