‘Phenomenal people’
British Columbia man credits quick-thinking Islanders, ‘seamless’ co-operation between P.E.I. and N.B. health care for saving his life
Gary Robitaille believes he must have a guardian angel looking out for him on P.E.I.
The 68-year-old British Columbia resident is giving some major praise to several Islanders, as well as staff at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown and the Saint John Regional Hospital, following a brush with death while staying in P.E.I. over the winter. Robitaille went into cardiac arrest on Dec. 22 and credits some quick-thinking Islanders and communication between the two provincial health systems for saving his life.
“I was in the right place at the right time with the right people. You couldn’t have scripted that any better if you tried,” said Robitaille. “The medical professionals in both provinces were phenomenal people.”
Robitaille’s incident saw several lucky circumstances that led to him escaping death.
He was staying with his sister, who lives in Charlottetown, over this past winter and was spending much of his free time working out at the Charlottetown Spa with a personal trainer.
Although he usually went in the morning, Robitaille, his trainer and a friend decided to go in the evening and celebrate his friend’s birthday with a dinner afterwards.
Robitaille was just finishing a jog when he began feeling dizzy.
The next thing he knew, he saw the blue padding on the floor coming to his face.
“I hit the floor face first, I had a full cardiac arrest,” said Robitaille.
Luckily, Dr. Ken Coady, nurse Jo-ann Darrach and Ken Stanley were also in the gym that night. Robitaille said Stanley did CPR, while Coady took control of the situation and did mouth-tomouth and Darrach kept track of his vital signs.
Robitaille said he was “dead” until CPR got his heart going again.
However, his heart stopped once again.
That was when Robitaille was shocked with an automated external defibrillator (AED) before he was rushed to the QEH and later to St. John’s Cardiac centre for triple bypass surgery.
“The AED is certainly a lifesaving device, that’s for sure,” he said. “It brought me back; otherwise there would have been no way. So, it was a pretty good Christmas present.”
Robitaille said he was lucky, considering the time of day he went to the gym, who was there and how they handled the situation
“My trainer said, ‘You must have had angels around you because they laid you down pretty gently.’ I went down face first and didn’t have a mark on me, I didn’t even break my glasses,” said Robitaille, adding that his heart was stopped for about 10 minutes between both times.
Robitaille’s sister, Debbie Rothenburger, said the circumstances surrounding the incident were a “miracle” and noted that often only the negative stories of health care are heard.
“The care here is phenomenal… I saw how they treated him, everything was organized, there was lots of kindness and compassion.”
Robitaille has already gone to the N.B. Heart Centre to thank those involved with his recovery.
He’s also going to be visiting the Islanders and QEH staff who saved his life to formally thank them and wanted to make his story public before he returns to B.C.
“The whole process, the kindness and generosity of the people and the efficiency of the medical system between one province and another was seamless,” he said. “It was amazing.”