A 70-year-old hospital worker has spoken of the moment she realised she was having a heart attack while at the hospital where she has worked for five decades.
Pat Ward, a switchboard call handler at Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital (LHCH), began feeling unwell in a taxi on her way to work. By the time she arrived for her shift, the pain in her jaw and chest had worsened, and she feared something was seriously wrong.
Pat said: "I arrived on switchboard and told my colleague Debbie that I felt unwell. By now I had jaw and chest pain which had gradually worsened, and it started to feel like my chest was caving in."
"I remember saying to Debbie, 'I think I'm having a heart attack', and the rest doesn't feel real now. It was like a bad dream," she added.
Specialist team sprang into action
Her colleague immediately raised the alarm, and specialists at the hospital responded within minutes. Elcy Varughese, an advanced cardiology nurse practitioner, arrived and recognised the severity of the situation.
Elcy said: "I knew when I saw Pat that she was having a heart attack and we took her straight to the Cath Lab [cardiac catheterisation laboratory] where she was met by the specialist team."
Medics carried out emergency treatment to unblock Pat's coronary artery, restore blood flow and minimise any heart muscle damage.
Recovery and return to work
Pat said she was fortunate to have fallen ill where she did. She said: "Lucky for me, I was at the right place at the right time."
The 70-year-old recovered following the life-saving procedure and received rehabilitation, which encouraged her to make "small changes to become more active, move more and go on walks".
Pat has since returned to work and reflected on the care and support she received from colleagues during her recovery. She said: "At one point they had to restrict visiting on the ward because I had so many colleagues checking in to make sure I was ok – which was so lovely. The care was just fantastic – I was treated like a queen."
Warning signs of a heart attack
Dr Jonathan Hasleton, the consultant cardiologist who treated her, said: "Pat came to us at the point where minutes genuinely matter and the reason she did so well is that the people around her recognised what was happening and acted straight away."
"The message I would want people to take from Pat's story is not to wait. If you have chest pain, or pain in the jaw, neck or arms, particularly with breathlessness, nausea or sweating, call 999," he continued.
"People very often talk themselves out of it and that delay is what does the damage."
The hospital is now encouraging people to recognise the warning signs of a heart attack and seek urgent medical help if they experience them.
