A WAGGA woman was forced to drive her seriously-ill husband to hospital after being told an ambulance would have to come 80 kilometres from Holbrook while another vehicle stood idle at the ambulance station less than three blocks away.
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Faced with a wait of 40 minutes for paramedics, Anna Irons got behind the wheel of her car and drove her husband, Max, to hospital while the stricken man was monitored by his son, Neil, on Tuesday morning.
“I just think it’s pretty sad a place the size of Wagga would have to get an ambulance from Holbrook,” Mrs Irons said.
NSW Ambulance yesterday apologised to the Irons family and gave an explanation for their situation, which essentially involved a heavy demand on services at the time.
It said an off-duty paramedic was on the way to get an ambulance from the Johnston Street ambulance station when the decision was made to take Mr Irons to hospital in a private vehicle.
Mr Irons collapsed while attending a funeral at St Michael’s Cathedral and a cry for immediate medical help went up when his wife saw he was not breathing.
“It was like the light had gone out of his eyes,” Mrs Irons said.
“There were a couple of nurses there and they did CPR and got him going.”
Funeral director Darren Verus telephoned triple-0 and asked for an ambulance while the nurses continued to work on Mr Irons at the back of the cathedral.
“One nurse said we need an ambulance here quick, he has flat lined,” Mrs Irons said.
“The nurses there thought he had a heart attack.”
Mr Verus said he made the initial call to triple-0 and then because he had to continue with the service handed his mobile telephone to a colleague who later told him the operator said an ambulance had to come from Holbrook.
The information shocked Mr Verus.
“They virtually kept us on hold while trying to access an ambulance,” he said.
“We were only down the road from the ambulance station in Johnston Street.”
Mrs Irons said one of the people attending to her husband told Neil to put his father in the car and drive him to hospital, which they did, with help.
“It was rather stressful,” Mrs Irons said.
“What if I had been by myself? I don’t know what would have happened.
“I could not have gotten him in the car by myself.
“(Luckily) He was in the right spot at the right time, that is all I can say.”
She said she wanted to thank everyone who helped with the crisis on Tuesday.
Mr Irons was reported to be in a satisfactory condition in Wagga Base Hospital.
