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as told by Barb Barilani
 When my husband, Jerry, had a heart attack, guardian angels were with us the whole day. We were working on our land near Genoa when Jerry started having chest pain. We knew we needed to get him to Gundersen Lutheran right away. Before we left our land, I gave Jerry my last aspirin. Doctors later told us that may have saved his life.
As we drove into Genoa, Jerry’s pain intensified so I pulled into Pedretti’s gas station and yelled for help. Someone called 911, then our first guardian angel, Wendy, came out and helped me stay calm. Another guardian angel, Donny, came over and gave me a nitro pill for Jerry.
A few minutes after the 911 call, the Genoa First Responders arrived and within 15 minutes paramedics from Tri-State Ambulance were on the scene to transport Jerry to Gundersen Lutheran’s Trauma & Emergency Center (TEC). I was pretty shaken up, so Wendy drove me to the hospital and stayed until family members arrived.
The paramedics radioed the TEC to tell them it appeared Jerry was having a heart attack. Because the paramedics thought ahead, doctors were able to move quickly and declare what we later learned was a Priority One heart attack. That meant a series of steps were taken to get Jerry to the Heart Institute’s Cardiac Cath Lab and open his blocked arteries as quickly as possible.
Within 40 minutes after he arrived in the TEC, Dr. Julio Bird opened my husband’s clogged coronary arteries. Doctors told us one artery was 100 percent blocked. If we had waited to come in, he might not have made it.
From the time Jerry arrived at Gundersen Lutheran everything happened very quickly, and the guardian angels we encountered were wonderful. The social worker helped me track down our children and the TEC staff made sure I saw Jerry before he was taken to the Cath Lab. Chaplain Dennis Snider prayed with me and kept me updated. Throughout the catheterization, a registered nurse, Katrina Fox, sat by my husband and kept him calm. In the Coronary Care Unit, his main registered nurse, Marcia Kendall, made sure we were getting rest and brought warm blankets to make us comfortable. His cardiologist, Dr. Kevin Jaeger, has been nothing but helpful.
I can’t say enough about the treatment Jerry received at Gundersen Lutheran. Today, he’s doing fine thanks to all of the guardian angels who cared for him. |