After suffering a third cardiac event in 15 years, a reader writes that urgent, expert medical attention made the difference between living and dying. Photo / File
After suffering a third cardiac event in 15 years, a reader writes that urgent, expert medical attention made the difference between living and dying. Photo / File
Thanks to our local heroes
On Sunday, August 9, I suffered chest pain which saw me driven urgently to Whanganui Hospital Emergency Department, then quickly flown to Wellington Hospital for life-saving angioplasty procedure.
This was the third cardiac event I had suffered in the last 15 years and had Inot received urgent medical intervention, I certainly would not be writing this.
My survival and recovery was solely due to the efficiency, professionalism and expertise of the many people involved, starting with the receptionist at Whanganui Emergency Department and including the doctors, medical staff, air ambulance crew and the support teams who managed my care and treatment over two days.
These people are heroes and while they will say they are just doing their job, their commitment and dedication to their patients deserves more gratitude and praise than they would accept. Their extraordinary efforts in saving lives that would otherwise be lost cannot be understated in terms of the gratitude of the patients and families involved.
I thanked all the staff before I returned home, but how can you properly thank so many wonderful, clever people who have given my family and I more years together? I sincerely hope these people feel the huge gratitude they deserve and are rewarded with immense job satisfaction every time they see the smiles on the faces of the many, many lives they have saved.
Thank you, my heroes.
Name withheld Whanganui
Your letters
Chasing trucks
We recently spent about a month living in another town that has recycling in operation - the first thing that struck me on arriving was that there were four wheelie bins and two smaller plastic tub bins.
Not knowing just how the system worked, I asked a neighbour. Right, he said, the big 240-litre green bin and the two small bins go out on week one, the big bin is for green waste only, the two smaller ones are for general waste, the big yellow lidded one is for recyclables and the tubs are for glass etc.
These two, along with the first two, go out every second week.
So out went the first bins on collection day, and sure enough about 7.15am along comes the first compactor truck and collects the green-waste bin. About 15 minutes later along comes the second compactor truck and it collects the two smaller general waste bins.
Along comes the second week, and out go all the bins and the two plastic tubs with all the glass bottles in. Sure enough, about 7.15am along comes the first compactor truck and takes the green-waste bin, and yes, along comes the second compactor truck and it takes the general rubbish bins, and yes, along comes a third compactor truck and it takes the recycling. And, would you believe it, along comes a fourth truck, which empties the glass bins sorting them at the kerbside.
In a quick chat with the operator, he said "not sure about this recycling thing, we have a helluva pile of stuff at the yard that we cannot get rid of".
So here on week one we have two trucks chasing each other around and on the second week we have four trucks chasing each other around. How in God's name is that cost-effective, when there appears to be very little market for the by-product.
Please don't get me wrong - am I am not opposed to recycling in the least, but it has to be cost-effective to be of any benefit to this town.
