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One weeknight, about 3 years ago, my partner & I came across a woman having what appeared to be a stroke or seizure on the street. She was standing up holding the railings of a shop, convulsing, unable to communicate. A taxi had stopped, and a local guy were standing there, both
wondering what to do. This happened approx 3 minutes drive from the A&E department of the Mater Hospital. Because it was clearly a brain event, we called the emergency services. They said they'd be there asap. Being the only woman around, I put my arms around the woman
while she convulsed, to keep her warm, and to ensure that when it stopped, she wouldn't fall. She stopped after a while, and we lay her on jackets on the ground. The taxi driver left a blanket and drove off, confident the ambulance was on its way. The woman was just able to speak
so I talked to her, and tried to keep her conscious. I asked her her name, where she lived, about her life and family. I found out she knew my gorgeous next door neighbour well, from church. I did most of the talking, but asked questions to keep her engaged. 10 mins later,
I called the ambulance again. They said they'd send one asap. I asked 'when' & they said they didn't know. I asked them if it would be better to drive her the 3 minutes to the hospital, and they wouldn't/couldn't answer. 3 more calls, and 35+ mins after the first call, the
ambulance turned up & brought her to hospital. 3 days later, I learned from my devastated neighbour that she'd been on a trolley for 15 hours, & then put on life support for 24 hours, before she died. I was the last person to speak to her, as she'd lost consciousness by
the time the ambulance arrived. I don't have the medical knowledge to know if her life could have been saved if we'd driven her to the hospital, if the ambulance came earlier, or if life support had been available when she was admitted. I suspect it wouldn't have been. I think
about it a lot though. I think about what it would have felt like if it was my loved one on the ground, and an ambulance took so long, and emergency services wouldn't advise me what was the best decision, and there wasn't a bed available. It wasn't anyone's fault. Our healthcare
services are chronically underfunded, and difficult decisions have to be made in terms of priorities. With COVID, this situation has been magnified. We have limited beds, limited staff, limited ambulances etc for the huge number of people being struck with COVID but all the
strokes, heart attacks, car crashes, cancers etc don't stop happening just because our hospitals are at breaking point. We locked down too late because our government played chicken with a virus and lost. They should be held accountable for this & voted out as soon as possible,
but in the interim,we need to ensure that we do everything we can to help reduce the strain on our health workers & hospitals. We need to stay home, mask up & stay as safe as we possibly can, so that we reduce the spread, & so the resources are there for those who need them most.
We might think that we can survive a bout of COVID, or that these lockdowns are worse than the disease, but it's not just about us, and it's not just about COVID. We have limited resources, and no one wants to be in that awful situation of wondering if their loved one
could have survived if only there had been an ICU bed available, or if an ambulance had turned up quickly, or if the person who had COVID had worn a mask. No one wants our healthcare workers to have to make a choice about who gets an ICU bed. Please #WearAMask 
& #StayHome 
.
& #StayHome .
