Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has given a “big special shout out” to 10 Sunshine Coast University Hospital (SCUH) staff who put their lives at risk to save a COVID-positive patient in a life-threatening emergency.
It is understood the patient had gone into anaphylactic shock due to an adverse reaction to the contrast dye used in MRI scanning.
The healthcare workers were all vaccinated and wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) but Dr Jeannette Young explained that they were concerned their PPE may have been “compromised” in the rush.
They will now spend 14 days in quarantine.
Ms Palaszczuk, Health Minister Yvette D’Ath and Dr Young all praised the hospital staff during their morning coronavirus update.
“I’m just so proud of them, that they put their own lives at risk to go in and help a COVID-positive patient who went into an anaphylactic shock,” said Ms Palaszczuk.
“They went in and they saved her life. I’m so proud, I’m proud of each and every one of them. I thank them. I know that Queenslanders are proud of them as well.
“Congratulations to each and every one of them. It just happened so quickly. There was no hesitation. They just went in and helped out. And thankfully the woman survived that particular episode.”
Dr Young said the patient, who had the Delta variant, was no longer in the intensive care unit.
She said all 10 staff were vaccinated but one of them was still to have their second dose which wasn’t due yet.
Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service Acting Chief Executive, Andrew McDonald, confirmed the heroic actions.
“Yesterday afternoon our medical emergency team responded to an incident involving one of our COVID-19 positive patients,” he said.
“Our staff put their lives at risk to provide life-saving treatment to this patient who is thankfully now in a stable condition in the ward.
“About 10 staff were involved in the incident. We consider them to be primary and casual contacts, and as such have been placed in quarantine.
“All areas involved in the incident have been COVID cleaned. There is no risk to other patients or staff or to the community.”
Mr McDonald said that the staff were to be commended for all they did to save the patient’s life.
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Dr Young was full of praise for the team and said they had followed the right processes.
“These staff put themselves in harm’s way to help a patient in need. They put the patient’s welfare before their own,” Dr Young said.
“From the information I have, staff were required to act quickly and may not have been able to maintain full infection control while attending to the emergency.
“Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service has put a range of measures in place and there is no risk to anyone else from this incident.”
