Resident expresses gratitude to Ocean Medical Center staff for saving his life

On Dec. 19 at 5:30 a.m., I awoke feeling "not quite right." Quickly I contacted my good friend, Tom, and asked him to drive me to the hospital, knowing that if it was indeed my fourth incident of congestive heart failure (CHF), it would max quickly, and there was no time to wait for the First Aid Squad. Miraculously, all three traffic lights on the way to the Ocean Medical Center in Brick turned green as we approached them.

There were no patients waiting in the emergency room, only a young man and young lady who immediately assisted me into the back treatment area. My breathing was already labored and the identifiable pink foam was coming forth. I only remember the staff helping me out of my sweatshirt. All three previous incidents of CHF had been around 2:30 to 3:30 a.m., none ever so late as this one.

It was very fortunate for me that Dr. Vincent Ferrara, M.D., a cardiologist, was there that morning, for it was he and a staff of many who worked diligently and saved my life. Several people there told me later that I had come very close to not surviving.

I woke up around 1:15 a.m. on Saturday on a respirator in CCU. A wonderful nurse, Stephanie, came to the bed to reassure me that I was doing well and that my vitals were stable. I was later transferred to 5 West, where the care could not have been better for both my physical and emotional needs. The nurses and attendants alike were incredible. Linda, Marie, Lisa (who, although stretched to the max with a patient and workload, made many attempts to phone a doctor for permission for a shower), Jennifer, June, Teri (who delayed her lunch for several hours on Dec. 28 while waiting to see if the cardiologist would discharge me), Andre, Michael, Jennifer, Cheryl, Vicki, Jane, Peggy, the fantastic staff from respiratory therapy (especially Joy) who gave me daily breathing treatments, the cheerful housekeeping and dietary staff who always smiled warmly at us, and all the others whom I can’t remember.

Conditions in a hospital are never perfect, but in this Brick hospital, the staff certainly did everything possible to make them as pleasant as could be, under the circumstances. Like in the diamond commercial on TV, I want to stand in the middle of a public plaza with these staff members, and shout for the whole world to hear, "I love these people, I love these people."

God bless them and their loved ones always for this wonderful gift of life that I received because of their knowledge, skills, abilities and devotion to caring for others.

Curtis Shaffer

Brick