Subscriber letter: Thank you, KGH – from the Town Crier

I had a major heart attack on Monday, Labour Day. Emergency Room staff at KGH said I would have died within a couple hours, had my wife not brought me in. After my assessment, they gave me blood-thinner, then called in a cardiac doctor and a team of four nurses, none of whom were on duty, only on-call.

Within an hour, I was in an operating theatre, and a procedure to insert three stents in my major heart artery was soon completed. I spent the next two days recovering in a cardiac ward, and on Thursday, two more stents were inserted.

I was home Friday, recovering, and feeling truly thankful for the incredibly talented and dedicated staff in the cardiac unit of KGH, both in the operating theatre and on the wards. An amazing, caring and coordinated team of healthcare professionals, without whose applied skills, I likely would no longer be alive.

All hospital staff are working under highly-stressful conditions – a shortage of beds, an excess of patients (one said 120% of capacity), many COVID-related. I struggle to understand why anyone would protest outside the hospital and interfere with medical staff’s treatment of the protesters’ families and friends, among others.

Thanks to all KGH staff for how I was medically, professionally and humanely treated at a time of great stress. They were invariably, friendly, concerned, helpful, and competent. I bow my head in humble gratitude.

– Bruce Klippenstein, Peachland, B.C.