Minutes matter, especially when it’s your mom’s life that hangs in the balance.
“It was just so quick that the team found out what was going on and how to help her. They essentially saved my mom’s life,” Andy Justice, a security guard in our emergency department at Mercy Health – Springfield Regional Medical Center, shares.
Andy was on duty when his sister called with the news that their mother was in an ambulance and heading to the hospital.
“I woke up out of a dead sleep and when I went to get up out of the bed, my left leg – from my toes all the way up to my groin – was numb,” Norma Jean Justice, Andy’s mother, recalls. “I told my husband to get up, there’s something wrong. The ambulance was here in about three minutes and when they took my blood pressure, it was 220 over 120. That scared me.”
The concern was that Norma Jean could be having a stroke. Luckily, first responders got her to the hospital fast, and our team waited to jump into action there. It was a series of events that Andy got to witness firsthand.
“I walked outside to meet my mom – her eyes were swollen and she wasn’t making one bit of sense – but they didn’t waste any time,” Andy shares. “I was going in circles trying to keep up with everything – she had maybe three scans in 25 minutes, tops – but there was no chaos. Everything ran smoothly, and before I knew it, they were done and just waiting on a room for her to go up and get her 23-hour observation window going.”
Our doctors found the source of Norma Jean’s problem to be a small clot in her brain, where some of her blood vessels were narrowing.
“I’m thankful I went in,” Norma Jean shares. “They put me on a new medication to break things down where I had that problem. It was frightening, but everybody at the hospital was great – very caring and compassionate.”
By the next day, Norma Jean was released from the hospital and returned home to rest.
“She called me all bubbly,” Andy recalls. “From the way she sounded, just the difference from the time she pulled up into the ambulance to the next day when she was laughing and joking around, it was sweet music to my ears. It was just all so amazing. They took really good care of my mom.”
From there, Norma Jean received follow-up care with some of our Springfield providers to manage her risk of future strokes. When we followed up with Andy recently, he shared that his mom is doing really well these days.
“She is back to doing the things she did before and then some,” he shares. “She has had a few follow-up appointments with our neuroscience team and has had some medication changes. She’s also traveled to watch her grandson graduate from the army boot camp and gone to a few of her granddaughter’s golf tournaments. One of my mom’s favorite activities is going to garage sales with my dad. So yes, life is back to normal for my mom.”
Andy continues, “As for me, things are really good for me as well. The new Springfield Regional Medical Center Police Department is moving along nicely. We’re growing daily in our duties and responsibilities. I really want to thank the whole hospital team for taking such great care of my mom and then at the follow-up appointments as well. Specifically, Erin Jordan in the neuroscience department was very kind to my mom and helped her tremendously.”
This holiday season, we are celebrating by spreading the good news! Read more thankful stories, like this one, that feature our team members, patients and the wonderful communities we are blessed to serve.
Also, learn more about strokes as well as the stroke care services we provide at Mercy Health.
