Staffordshire grandmother thanks hospital staff for twice saving life in Covid-19 battle
A Staffordshire grandmother has revealed how an NHS trust saved her life twice while she battled Covid-19.
Elizabeth Rose, 65, spent 17 days at University Hospital of North Midlands (UHNM) NHS Trust's Royal Stoke University Hospital after she was brought to the emergency department by an ambulance after she was struggling to breathe at home.
On arrival at hospital, Elizabeth, from Great Haywood, near Stafford, and her husband, Ian, both tested positive for coronavirus.
Watch: Hospital staff applaud Elizabeth Rose out
Ian, who didn't have any symptoms, remained at the couple's home and self-isolated in line with national guidance – and was unable to see his wife while she fought the disease in hospital.
Elizabeth, who was placed in an induced coma for three days on ward 222 said she was "touch and go" for those days – as doctors and nurses saved her life twice.
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She said: "I haven’t got much memory of my time being admitted into hospital or just after my coma. I remember waking up being confused.
"I didn’t know where I was and wasn’t able to move much or walk without help from the staff.
"I just kept thinking 'You can do this, you can get better'. I was really determined to get through it all. I knew my husband, children and grandkids were all waiting to see me back home.
Discharged
“I can’t praise the nurses and doctors enough. They saved my life twice while I was in a coma, as I was touch and go for those three days but they were all marvellous, even down to the cleaners who were so friendly.”
Elizabeth was discharged in October and self-isolated for three weeks before being able to see her family.
She added: “They told me I needed to isolate for two weeks but I did an extra week just to be certain, I didn’t want to risk my kids or grandchildren catching it.”
Michelle Rhodes, UHNM chief nurse and director of infection control and prevention said: “We are seeing more and more patients like Elizabeth come to us every day but the team on ward 222 managed to keep her stable and support her in recovering from the virus.
“At the start of the pandemic we saw patients like this every week and luckily most like Elizabeth managed to recover and did not need further hospital care.
“When the first lockdown measures came into place we really did see drop in the number of patients that were coming in. Unfortunately we are now seeing a dramatic increase in patients presenting with Covid-19.
“I would urge everyone to follow the new lockdown restrictions and continue to washing their hands regularly, wear a mask and keeping apart from others outside of your household.”
