Fate, destiny, luck — there are many words for something that happens at just the right time, with just the right people. For Melissa Spahr, RN, CCH Stroke Program Coordinator, serendipity struck while presenting a case study about a stroke patient whose life was saved by her team of physicians — only to find out the patient’s wife was in the audience.
On November 19, 2020, Spahr virtually logged into what she thought would be a typical quarterly EMS forum. She expected to engage with CCH employees and EMS providers about stroke awareness, prevention, and treatment. “This patient was chosen out of a handful of patients who came in and had a quick response time,” Spahr explained. One purpose of the EMS forums is to inform future success, and John Whiteman’s case highlighted what the American Heart Association emphasizes as critical to stroke treatment — decreasing arrival time to treatment time.
“John had a great response time. And he’s had a wonderful recovery. It was kind of the perfect package,” she said.
Meanwhile, Tammy Whiteman, EMS provider, logged into the same forum from home. While she has attended many of these forums over the years, this one was destined to be a little more personal. “I was sitting and listening to the case study, and John was working on a speech at the end of the table. The slide popped up — 66-year-old man, difficulty saying prayers — and in my head, I went, ‘Oh my god, that’s John!’” she recalled.
“At the very end, they said, ‘Does anybody have anything they’d like to add?’ I popped John on the screen, and said, ‘This is your patient.’ And he said thank you to everyone,” she said. “It was amazing. It was very emotional.”
As for Spahr, she was similarly moved. “I was completely blown away,” she said. “I thought that someone had set me up in a way, but then it was revealed that everyone else was caught off guard, as well. We all had chills.”
Whiteman said she and her husband were grateful for this unplanned but special surprise. “It was a really touching moment where it sort of all pulled together. We were able to say thank you to those people who do this every day, and let them know that what they do means so much to not only every provider they work with, but the families that they touch.”