Deniliquin resident Pam Jones has no memory of having a stroke in October last year, but she counts herself lucky to be alive.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"I do volunteer work at Vinnies at their shop here, I went and I was there at 8.30am, I did a bit of work, 9am I went to open the shop and two days later I woke up in Melbourne," she said.
Mrs Jones' said the stroke was severe, but to the surprise of her doctors, she was fine.
"I told them there was nothing wrong with me and they could not believe how strong I was," she said.
"I wasn't paralysed or anything, they just couldn't believe it."
Mrs Jones attributed her quick recovery to her treatment through the NSW Telestroke Service, which offers regional and rural residents access to life-saving stroke diagnosis and treatment by connecting local doctors to specialist stroke physicians via video.
In other news
When paramedics rushed Mrs Jones to Deniliquin Hospital she was assessed by Medical Director of the NSW Telestroke Service, Professor Ken Butcher, who prescribed her with clot-busting medication while a nurse in the hospital carried out the work.
Mrs Jones' husband Terry said the technology was absolutely brilliant.
"How grateful am I? Well as grateful as I can be," he said.
"My wife is OK, we can live our lives, we're going to Queensland in three weeks again, and we can just go overseas if we want to.
"Otherwise she may not have even been here."
Telestroke launched in March 2020 and more than 2300 patients across the state have used the service. Mrs Jones was the first Deniliquin patient to use the service.
This National Stroke Week (August 8 to 14) Mrs Jones wanted to remind residents a stroke is a time-critical medical emergency and people should call Triple Zero (000) and seek help immediately.
The F.A.S.T. test is an easy way to remember the most common signs of stroke:
- Face: Check their face. Has their mouth drooped?
- Arms: Can they lift both arms?
- Speech: Is their speech slurred? Do they understand you?
- Time: Is critical. If you see any of these signs call 000 straight away.
Deniliquin Hospital Telestroke team's Dr Rachel James said the service was dissolving the geographical barrier for rural communities and enabling specialist care to start right at the beginning of the patient's journey.
"When patients come back from their acute stroke, we're the GPs that take care of them as well," she said.
"So knowing that they got the best care in that acute period of time we know that they are going to have a better outcome as well."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Download our app from the Apple Store or Google Play
- Bookmark dailyadvertiser.com.au
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
Victoria Ellis
Victoria Ellis grew up on the Border and loves reporting for her home community. She is a University of Wollongong Journalism graduate. In 2018 Victoria was awarded the Bruce Gordon Scholarship for Journalism and completed a 10 week internship with WIN News Illawarra. In 2019 she was awarded The Border Mail's Cameron Thompson Scholarship, where she completed a three week internship, before taking up ongoing employment in 2021.
Victoria Ellis grew up on the Border and loves reporting for her home community. She is a University of Wollongong Journalism graduate. In 2018 Victoria was awarded the Bruce Gordon Scholarship for Journalism and completed a 10 week internship with WIN News Illawarra. In 2019 she was awarded The Border Mail's Cameron Thompson Scholarship, where she completed a three week internship, before taking up ongoing employment in 2021.
