Paramedic Grants Dying Patient’s Last Wish to Visit the Beach

waves crashing on rocks
My heart was touched by an exceptional story that I wanted to share. (Image: pixabay / CC0 1.0)

My heart was touched by an exceptional story that I wanted to share. It’s about compassion shown by a paramedic from the Queensland Ambulance Service. This compassionate paramedic granted a dying patient’s last wish to visit the beach.

Queensland is a northern state of Australia that boasts an abundance of sunny tropical weather. The picturesque beaches comprise from soft sand bordering the water’s edge to high rocky edges giving anyone great ocean views. All types of water sports are enjoyed here, along with walking along the sandy shore. Queensland is also home to the natural wonder called The Great Barrier Reef. Tourists and people living locally here create such wonderful memories.

The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) is a health care service responsible for the state of Queensland. QAS care to the community is the delivery of pre-hospital ambulance response services, emergency, non-emergency, pre-hospital patient care and transport services, inter-facility ambulance transport, casualty room services and planning, and the coordination of multi-casualty incidents and disasters.

A paramedic with the Queensland Ambulance Service granted a dying patient's last wish.
Danielle, who took the photo, said she was privileged to be able to accommodate the woman’s request. (Image: Courtesy: Queensland Ambulance Service)

An ambulance crew was sent out to collect a patient and to deliver her to the palliative care unit of the local hospital at Hervey Bay. On arrival, the patient requested that she just wished she could be at the beach again. Helen Donaldson, an Ambulance Officer at Hervey Bay, said: “Sometimes, it’s not the drugs/training skills; sometimes, all you need is empathy to make a difference.” Recalling the events, ambulance paramedic Graeme Cooper said:

The next trip to the palliative care unit would be the patient’s last as she was going to pass away in hospital. The ambulance paramedics, Danielle Kellan and Graeme Cooper, knew the patient from previous trips, and they understood what their patient needed, as Graeme recounts:

Graeme used the woman’s vomit bag to scoop up some water and bring it to her, so she could put her arm in.

Danielle, who took the photo, said she was privileged to be able to accommodate the woman’s request. She said to the patient:

Danielle said the response from social media showed there were other similar stories of paramedics going above the call of duty for their patients:

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