Flood nearly claims foot

12 Nov 2020, 16:28

Maree Cameron could have been facing amputation if not for a kind neighbour and a skilled doctor at City Medical.

As the rain poured down on Monday, Mrs Cameron and her son Bryce decided to move a stack of 20 wooden sheets out of her flooding garage on the outskirts of Napier.

They managed to tilt the pile on its side but then it came crashing back down on Mrs Cameron’s foot. Mrs Cameron said the pain was immense.

“On a scale of one to 10…well it was way over that!” she said.

Bryce lifted the stack of wood enough to free her and they bundled her into the car to drive to City Medical Napier.

“If it had been any later in the day we might not have got there as it felt like the water was seeping into the car,” Mrs Cameron said.

A nurse assessed Mrs Cameron in the car and decided it would be too dangerous to continue the drive to Hawke’s Bay Hospital so she fetched a security guard to carry Mrs Cameron into the building.

Mrs Cameron was told she’d dislocated her ankle and broken both her tibia and fibula. She was given pain relief but would need to be sedated to have her ankle put back into place.

Fortunately, Medical Director Dr Umang Patel was on his way back to work thanks to his neighbour and his trusty SUV.

Trained in Emergency Medicine and Urgent Care, Dr Patel was able to sedate Mrs Cameron and manipulated the ankle back into alignment.

“Mrs Cameron’s injury appeared very serious and I was concerned about the circulation to the foot. We essentially created a hospital ward to keep Mrs Cameron in overnight and monitored her pain relief, until an ambulance could safely take her to Hawke’s Bay Hospital once the flooding had subsided the next morning,” Dr Patel said.

Meanwhile Dr Patel’s neighbour, had driven Mrs Cameron’s daughter-in-law home and returned to help transport patients to where they needed to go.

“It was heartening to see the community pulling together in a time of need,” Dr Patel said.

Mrs Cameron, who is awaiting surgery on her ankle said she couldn’t fault the care she received.

“Everyone’s been amazing, the nurses and Dr Patel – he’s my hero. I’m very lucky I didn’t lose my foot.”