Nov 26, 2021

Paramedics surprise palliative patient with a trip to the mountains

Evelyne Collins was diagnosed with Leukaemia in October and is receiving palliative care at Hardi Aged Care.

The 85-year-old suffers from dementia and had to be transported to Blue Mountains Hospital in Katoomba for blood transfusions as part of her treatment.

While under the care of Judy Andrews and Mike Horan, the paramedics decided to stop at the Three Sisters as a surprise for Ms Collins.

“As she was not at risk and just receiving treatment and we had a quiet moment, we decided to take her to the lookout to show her the view on the way.”

Wanting to share a small moment of joy, Ms Andrews said she could have never predicated the impact it had on Ms Collins and her family.

“She had this beautiful glow and look of happiness on her face so I took a photo to send to her daughter Kim, who said the family was overwhelmed that we would take the time to do that.”

Ms Collins said the visit to the Mountains was just beautiful.

“It was lovely that they took the time to do this. It made me feel special,” Ms Collins said.

“It makes all the different when you are treated with patience and kindness.”

“When a family member is in care you always worry if people are caring for them properly and treating them with respect,” she said.

“There is a lot of hustle and bustle in this job but patients to us are not just numbers and under our care we wanted to make it a bit special and spread some positivity and Evelyne loved it.”

This post was originally published in The Western Weekender and was republished with permission.

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