Friday, 9 December, 2022
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Christmas cheer is here The festive spirit hit the streets of Noosa this week when the Connecting Noosa Christmas Convoy travelled the length and breadth of the shire to deliver Christmas cheer. Now in its third year, the festive convoy brought together Noosa Council, emergency services and partners who filled emergency vehicles that travelled the streets with lights flashing and sirens blaring, delighting residents who came out to wave them on. Kicking off at the Apollonian Hotel in Boreen Point Monday afternoon the convoy, led by Santa, included vehicles from Queensland Police, QFES, QAS, SES, Rural Firefighters, Lifeflight, Noosa Coastguard, Noosa Council, Madill Motor Group and HOT91. The Christmas convoy hits the streets. Picture: ROB MACCOLL
Miracle meeting By Margie Maccoll Seventy-year-old Arthur Kelly has no memory of being in a serious three-car accident on the Sunshine Motorway on 15 March, of sustaining catastrophic injuries or of dying while trapped in his vehicle, but on Friday he and his wife Aileen thanked the medics who saved both of them. The couple were in a 100km/hr zone driving to the beach for their regular morning walk just before 7am. Their dash cam revealed another car had crossed into their lane knocking them sideways into the path of an oncoming vehicle that impacted on the driver’s side. Aileen thinks she was looking down at the time and didn’t see the accident but remembers a “big noise“. “I saw Arthur sit up then he just slowly started sinking down. I didn’t realise at the time, he was actually passing away,“ she said. “There was a person I didn’t know trying to yank open the door to get to him. The gentle-
man was saying ’stay with us’. I was saying ’it’s OK, stay awake’.“ Last Friday at Sunshine Coast University Hospital (SCUH) the couple was reunited with paramedics who resuscitated Arthur at the scene of the accident and the medical team that treated him on his arrival to hospital. Critical care paramedic Erin McDonald said Arthur was “as unwell as you can get“ when the ambulance arrived at the accident. “His injuries were numerous, all of them life threatening,“ she said. “It’s a miracle Arthur is alive today. “When we first approached he had an altered level of consciousness, difficulty breathing ... then, cardiac arrest. We removed him from the vehicle and resuscitated him,“ she said. “It was incredibly challenging. We were concerned he would not make it to the hospital.“ SCUH trauma nurse Melanie Procter had
five minutes’ warning from paramedics of Arthur’s arrival - “major car crash - trauma - patient extremely unstable“. We have a trauma response, a whole of hospital response that includes ICU, anaesthetic, surgery and orthopaedic teams, she said. Medical director of trauma Dr Andrew Hobbins King said Arthur arrived with “catastrophic injuries“, conscious, with a low blood pressure and had difficulty breathing. Paramedics had performed a chest decompression, a life-saving procedure to insert a needle into his chest to release air pressure, prior to his arrival. The medical team put Arthur to sleep, intubated him and took a chest X-ray that revealed the car accident has caused catastrophic injuries to his aorta, the main artery in the body, Dr Hobbin King said. With a vascular surgeon in attendance they transferred Arthur immediately to the operating theatre for surgery to repair his aorta, then
moved him to ICU. “This was a wonderful example of when everything works so perfectly together,“ Dr Hobbins King said. “It was extremely streamlined and very calm.“ Arthur had fractures to his ribs, collarbone, spine and pelvis as well as injuries to his bowels and kidneys requiring further surgeries, medical treatment, physiotherapy and occupational therapy. “The change from coming in is an absolute miracle,“ Dr Hobbins King said. During his treatment Arthur had been told they’d had other patients with similar injuries, he was the first one alive today. “I feel really well. I’m so grateful. I only found out today I did pass away. We have 10 grandchildren. I’m grateful for every single day,“ he said. “I realised how blessed we are. I’m amazed myself how quickly I’ve recovered.” Continued page 4
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