A Nottingham man whose wife woke up to find him struggling to breathe has been reunited with the ambulance team who came to his rescue.
John Burnett, 72, from Bramcote, was having breathing problems due to a massive buildup of mucus which had blocked his airways as he lay in bed on 17 March this year.
The issue was caused by acute symptoms of John’s Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) and left him unable to speak, so he woke up his wife, Enid, and signalled to her to pick up the phone and call 999.
Call handler Zoey Tory provided Enid with reassurance until Paramedic Jason Hill, and Technicians Jonathan Burlace and Lisa Potter arrived to take over.
Enid was full of praise for Zoey and said: “Zoey helped me through it by trying to keep me calm so I could keep John calm.
“As soon as the paramedics arrived it was wonderful because I knew then that he was in safe hands.”
Zoey was equally impressed by how co-operative Enid had been during their telephone exchange.
She said: “She did everything that I asked her to. She followed my instructions which is very important to do.
“I asked her to give him another nebulizer and she did.”
John was very pleased to have been given the opportunity to pass on his gratitude to the crew as he said that he didn’t get much chance to say a big thank you on the night of the incident.
John had stopped breathing twice and he had collapsed on the stairs when the medical crew arrived.
He said: “The team worked hard for about an hour to get me breathing again but I relapsed once I was put into the ambulance. The team carried on working hard as they transported me to the hospital.”
Ambulance technicians Lisa Potter and Jonathan Burlace were very pleased to see John under happier circumstances.
Lisa said: “It’s lovely to see him looking so well.”
Jonathan added: “At the time of an incident your mind is on the job. You need to do what’s best for the patient at that time to get the best possible outcome.
“Seeing John today shows that we did everything that we could have done because he’s fighting fit and back at home.”
John is thankfully on the road to recovery and has donated money to East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS trust. This will help us to buy new pieces of medical equipment, or to provide improved recreational facilities for our staff.
John served as a police officer in Nottinghamshire for 33 years, starting his career as a police cadet in 1962 as a cadet.
