Elderly Australian Resuscitated in Nadi
Ms Wallen and her son Darren arrived in Fiji a couple of weeks ago to celebrate her 80th birthday and described her recovery as outstanding. They were staying at the Sheraton Fiji Resort and Spa where she started feeling sick.
An elderly Australian tourist was resuscitated at the Pacific Specialist Healthcare Hospital in Nadi after suffering a cardiopulmonary arrest.
And her heart had stopped beating for about 10 minutes after which required multi-organ support.
Quick action by specialists and Intensive Care Unit staff at the hospital, led by Consultant Anaesthesia and Consultant Intensivist Dr Ratu Vereniki Raiwalui resuscitated Carol Wallen, 80, of Melbourne who was here in Fiji on holiday.
Mrs Wallen, still weak but feeling much better yesterday, described her recovery at the hands of the medical team at PSH as amazing.
“The staff have been really marvelous and I am much better because of that,” Mrs Wallen said adding that as soon as she fully recovers she would be returning for another holiday.
PSH managing director Parvish Kumar said this was the time all hotels and resort should form a partnership or affiliation with his hospital for medical treatment of any of their guests who fall ill or are injured.
Ms Wallen and her son Darren arrived in Fiji a couple of weeks ago to celebrate her 80th birthday and described her recovery as outstanding. Ms Wallen and Darren were staying at the Sheraton Fiji Resort and Spa where she started feeling sick. “We thought she was dehydrated or she was seen by a doctor at the resort and she was taken to a clinic and after assessment she was taken to Nadi Hospital,” Mr Wallen said. “At Nadi Hospital it was evident that she was much sicker than what we thought and after a while I saw PSH Hospital on the website and how it was well equipped to look after her so I asked for her to be transferred there.
“To see her recovery so quickly is testament to the medical team here and to resuscitate someone who has been so sick and to come out of that has been nothing short of outstanding,” Mr Wallen said.
Dr Raiwalui said Ms Wallen was brought in and was at a point of having cardiopulmonary arrest and was taken to the HDU.
“She had Cardiopulmonary arrest there where her heart stopped for about 10 minutes and we resuscitated her with good outcome,” Dr Raiwalui said. “She was given intensive care support for her vital organs where her organs were heading towards failure.”
Over the past seven days she has been at PSH she has seen a significant improvement on her part and this was due to the high level of intensive care with organ support that was administered to her.
Four days ago she was taken off the life support system and she was put into a wheelchair and taken outside the hospital where a big smile could be seen on her face.
Later, Ms Wallen and Darren were repatriated back to Australia on a special Medivac flight with an Intesnive Care team from Rescue Services out of Brisbane.
Mr Kumar said having this affiliation with PSH would reduce the time and effort of taking patients in circles before being given professional treatment.
Mr Kumar said this was the reason his hospital was strategically placed to provide not only health care for locals but be a professional back up to the tourism industry.