One last look at the sea for dying Aussie woman, Latest World News - The New Paper
World

One last look at the sea for dying Aussie woman

This article is more than 12 months old

SYDNEY: An Australian ambulance crew carrying a dying woman to hospital took a detour to grant her final wish - to visit the beach one last time.

"Tears were shed and the patient felt very happy," the ambulance service posted on its Facebook page alongside a photo showing a paramedic beside a stretcher facing the ocean at Hervey Bay on Australia's east coast.

"A crew were transporting a patient to the palliative care unit of the local hospital and the patient expressed that she just wished she could be at the beach again," the service said in the message posted on Thursday.

"Above and beyond, the crew took a small diversion to the awesome beach at Hervey Bay to give the patient this opportunity," it added of the crew's actions on Wednesday.

"Sometimes it is not the drugs/training/skills - sometimes all you need is empathy to make a difference!"

As she looked out towards Fraser Island, the dying woman looked up at the two paramedics - Danielle Kellam and Graeme Cooper - and said "I'm at peace, everything is right", The Courier Mail reported.

The Facebook post has gained more than 60,000 reactions and 19,000 shares.

Mr Cooper yesterday told reporters the patient was on "her last journey back to (palliative care) where she was going basically to pass away".

"We popped her up on the hill where she could see the pier and Fraser Island... and she was ecstatic with it all," he said.

WORLD