A LANDLORD wants to repay the doctor who he believes saved his life.
Simon Harrison, who runs the Clifton Inn pub, on Clifton Street, Kingshill, has organised a fun day on Saturday, June 12, to raise money for SWIFTMedics.
This was after one SWIFTMedic and pub regular Dr James Dunn forced him to seek medical assistance in the nick of time as he suffered chest pains, which later turned out to be a heart attack.
Simon, 51, said he wanted to do something to raise funds for the charity.
He said: “If James hadn’t insisted on me going to the GP that morning I wouldn’t have gone. He did save my life.”
James, 34, of Clifton Street, a specialist registrar, works at Frenchay Hospital, near Bristol, in the emergency department.
But when the incident happened in October 2008, he was working at the Great Western Hospital’s emergency department.
Simon had had tightness in his chest and was sweating, but did not want to admit anything might be wrong.
But when James saw him on a visit to his local he realised these were classic symptoms for a heart problem.
He administered a GTN spray, which seemed to alleviate the problem, but made Simon promise to get a doctor’s appointment first thing.
Simon was sent straight to hospital the next day by his doctor and following tests was told he had most likely had a heart attack.
James said: “I turned up to start work that afternoon to find him wired up to lines, white faced.”
Simon was transferred to the coronary care ward and had an angiogram and angioplasty to identify any blockages. He had a stent put in the next day to widen arteries.
James said if left untreated the blocked artery could have caused another heart attack.
He said: “From my experience if he hadn’t gone in that day then over the next few days I’m sure something potentially serious could have happened to him.”
Even these days, James keeps an eye on Simon to ensure he is taking his health seriously and just over a year ago told him he should go to hospital again when he displayed similar symptoms.
Alongside his job James is one of nine doctors based in Wiltshire that are part of SWIFTMedics, which is reliant on public donations.
These doctors can be called out to accidents to provide more specialised medical assistance to the ambulance service.
The charity fun day runs from 2pm until 7pm, before England’s first World Cup match.
It will include face painting, a cake stall, bouncy castle, model railway rides, live music, barbecue, paramedics’ car and fire engine. It is also hoped a police car will be there.
For more information call the pub on 01793 523162.
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