{"id":66654,"date":"2021-06-17T11:53:33","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T15:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/?p=66654"},"modified":"2021-06-29T12:12:44","modified_gmt":"2021-06-29T16:12:44","slug":"patient-says-thank-you-after-emergency-department-staff-save-his-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/healthy-tomorrows\/patient-says-thank-you-after-emergency-department-staff-save-his-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Patient says thank you after Emergency Department staff save his life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Michael Crawford\u2019s Christmas card list was quite long this year. He had many people to thank for saving his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 70-year-old retiree was enjoying a quiet night at home with his wife of 40 years, Joanne Charlebois, in September, 2020 when everything changed in an instant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI could just tell there was something horribly wrong,\u201d Joanne recalled. So she followed her instincts and called 9-1-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paramedics arrived quickly around midnight and rushed Michael by ambulance to the Emergency Department at the Civic Campus of The Ottawa Hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Michael
Michael Crawford (right) was resuscitated in the Emergency Department after his heart stopped. His wife, Joanne Charlebois is thankful to the highly-skilled team for saving his life<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Due to COVID-19 visitor restrictions, Joanne had to stay home until hospital staff could provide an update on his condition.  Naturally, she was worried sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI couldn’t sleep,\u201d she said. \u201cI tried to watch TV. I think I finally turned it off at three o’clock in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Michael arrived at the Emergency Department, he was interacting with staff.  During triage, however, one of the nurses noticed that he was not looking well.  The nurse was concerned enough to call Dr. Edmund Kwok over right away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Kwok is the kind of person you want to have with you during an emergency.  He is a medical doctor, the Director of the Quality Improvement Unit in the Department of Emergency Medicine at The Ottawa Hospital, an associate professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa, a clinician investigator at The Ottawa Hospital, an adjunct professor for the School of Industrial Design at  Carleton University, and a sessional lecturer at the Telfer School of Management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithin minutes, he went from talking to one of the nurses to being unconscious,\u201d Dr. Kwok recalled.  \u201cHe deteriorated very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They moved Michael to the resuscitation area, where his heart suddenly stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe literally died in front of us, and we revived him,\u201d the doctor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an emergency, a team of highly-skilled professionals work together to save lives.  This is exactly what happened to Michael.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t stress enough how much teamwork helped to save his life,\u201d said Dr. Kwok. \u201cThe resuscitation nurses were already doing the tasks they were trained to do.  We had people lined up to do chest compressions while everything else was happening.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Kwok called a cardiology fellow from the University of Ottawa Heart Institute to the Emergency Department to help drain the fluid that had gathered around Michael\u2019s heart, which was preventing it from pumping properly.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once he was stabilized, Michael was transferred to the Heart Institute for more tests and to begin his recovery.  Relieved, Joanne was able to visit him for a few hours that morning due to the serious state he was in, following COVID-19 visitor guidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few weeks later, Michael was well enough to go home.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael and Joanne are very thankful for the excellent care Michael received at The Ottawa Hospital<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat they did, was really pivotal to Michael being able to be here today,\u201d said Joanne. \u201cThere’s no doubt in our minds that there were heroic measures to save Michael\u2019s life.  We are really grateful for having such a fine hospital in Ottawa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a doctor in the Emergency Department, Dr. Kwok sees scenarios like this often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is what we were trained to do, and I think this case highlights the expertise we have here at The Ottawa Hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And although Dr. Kwok doesn\u2019t often get to hear from his patients after they leave the Emergency Department, Michael and Joanne\u2019s gratitude means a lot to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt reinforces the great work that we do and the great care that we give in the Emergency Department, especially in these critical scenarios,\u201d he said.  \u201cI think that’s important positive feedback for people. It makes you want to go to work every day, knowing the good we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\":
Dr. Edmund Kwok finishes his night shift at the General Campus Emergency Department<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

He also wants to remind everyone to come to one of The Ottawa Hospital\u2019s emergency departments if they need emergency care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joanne agrees, and encourages everyone to follow their instincts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf in doubt, call 9-1-1. You might think, should I, or shouldn\u2019t I<\/em>?Ultimately, I called 9-1-1, and it saved his life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael is recovering well at home.  He has bouts of anxiety, and his energy level isn\u2019t quite as high as it used to be, but he and Joanne are looking forward to enjoying a more typical retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked how he reflects on his experience, Michael said, \u201clet’s be honest. Life-changing moments will have an effect on you permanently. It’s good to be able to articulate how you feel, and let people know how much I appreciate the help from strangers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as Michael continues to recover physically, he and Joanne are both happy to report that Michael\u2019s sense of humour is also recovering nicely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was wearing a beautiful bathrobe when I was taken to the hospital by ambulance, and I don’t seem to have it anymore.\u201d Michael said. \u201cSo if there’s somebody who’s enjoying a very, very nice Tommy Bahama bathrobe, it’s mine.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After being rushed to the Emergency Department of The Ottawa Hospital, patient Michael Crawford wants to thank the people who saved his life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":67096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[492,430,381],"class_list":["post-66654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-tomorrows","tag-emergency-care","tag-heart-failure-2","tag-patient-experience"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}