"Doctors at Broome Hospital saved my mother's life."

This isn’t my story, it’s my mums story but from my point of view.

On a Sunday I took my mum to Broome Hospital emergency department. She was finding it hard to breathe and was feeling quite unwell.

As soon as I was able to alert the staff that I thought mum was having a heart attack without any delay they had her in a wheelchair and brought her straight into the emergency ward. My father and I waited on the side and it was still thought to be at that time heart failure. Dad and I were often approached by the nursing staff who informed us about what they were doing with mum and what they planned to do and we felt quite at ease that she was in safe hands.

Later on we were moved to a quieter area and told that mum was quite sick and they weren’t sure if she was going make it. It shocked us to hear this and I could see in the doctor that was explaining everything to us that he was quite visibly upset too so I asked if there was still hope? And he said of course there is. He didn’t hesitate when he answered and it was hearing this that kept me calm, especially when we were allowed to have some time to talk to mum.

A little later it was explained that mum had a pulmonary embolism and that they were organising the Royal Flying Doctor Service to take her to Perth for emergency treatment. It was touch and go and we waited to see if she was going to be ok enough to fly, and before long she was. The lovely staff from the Flying doctors were very comforting. We got dad on a flight to Perth that evening and just as his flight was due to board we received a call from one of the Broome doctors treating mum who told us that mum was even more stable than before and would be flown to Perth soon. That call was so wonderful for Dad and helped keep him in a positive state of mind to get him to Perth.

It wasn’t until the end of the next day after 2 surgeries that mum was out of danger and we could start to think about recovery. The Doctors who took care of mum down Perth said to us that it is without a doubt that it was the actions performed by the Broome Hospital doctors that saved my mums life. The Broome Hospital doctors put mum in the best possible position to survive her ordeal and we can’t thank you all enough.

Mum really is a walking miracle and she also can’t thank The Broome Hospital staff enough, from triage to the flying doctors our experience was faultless.

We are so lucky this happened here where such skilled and caring hospital staff were able to help mum and we will always remember this experience with much appreciation and admiration.