When Minutes Matter: How Bayhealth's Quick Action Helped Save Judy's Life

On June 20, Judy woke up feeling unusually short of breath. Just walking a few feet left her winded. She had recently undergone surgery and was progressing through physical therapy, so she assumed she was simply tired.

"I didn't want to go to the emergency room," she recalls. "I thought I'd spend the whole day waiting and that they'd tell me I was just exhausted."

But by late afternoon Judy decided it was time to go to the ER, but told she told her husband to go to Bayhealth Emergency and Urgent Care Center, Total Care - Milton.

Immediate Care When Every Minute Counted

Judy arrived at Bayhealth expecting to wait. Instead, the moment she told the triage nurse she was having trouble breathing, everything changed.

"They rushed me into a room right away," she says. "I didn't even have to stop to deal with paperwork."

Within moments, multiple members of the Bayhealth emergency department team were at her bedside. A nurse who wasn't even assigned to her immediately stepped in to begin treatment while another nurse arrived and stayed with her throughout her care.

"They worked so quickly, but they were also calm and reassuring," Judy says. "I always felt like I was in good hands."

The nurse assigned to Judy made a big difference in keeping her calm. “He immediately showed up and the two of them were working fast. I remember him. He was wonderful. He kept me distracted by telling me about how he grew up on a farm and he was the only one of four boys who decided not to work on the farm and ended up going into nursing. Great guy. He never left me.”

After rapid testing, the emergency physician delivered the diagnosis: Judy had a massive saddle pulmonary embolism, which is a large blood clot blocking blood flow in both lungs. It was a life-threatening emergency.

Seamless Teamwork

Bayhealth's emergency team immediately coordinated with specialists at another full-service hospital, where a physician was available to perform a specialized procedure to remove the clot.

While waiting for the ambulance, Bayhealth completed an extensive series of diagnostic tests so Judy would arrive ready for treatment.

When she transferred to the other hospital system, the receiving physician was impressed.

"He kept saying, 'I can't believe they did all of this in the emergency room,'" Judy recalls. "Everything he needed had already been done at Bayhealth."

The clot was successfully removed, and after six days in the hospital, Judy returned home.

Today, she has fully recovered.

"I'm perfectly healthy," she says. "I take a blood thinner, I have routine follow-up visits, and I'm back to living my life."

A Message for Others

Looking back, Judy realizes how easily she could have dismissed her symptoms.

"I thought I was just tired," she says. "I had no idea something that serious was happening."

Her advice is simple: "If something doesn't feel right, get checked out. Listen to your spouse if they're telling you to go to the emergency room. And trust the medical team. Bayhealth proved they knew exactly what they were doing."

Today, Judy considers herself a lifelong supporter of the health system she believes saved her life.

"Bayhealth saved my life," she says. "That's a big deal. They did everything right from the moment I walked through the door. I'll always be grateful."

To learn more about Bayhealth’s emergency care and locations, visit Bayhealth.org/Emergency.