Carlton Ford

2/14/2011

My name is Carlton Ford, my wife Betty and I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Person County EMS and especially to the Emergency Room staff at Person Memorial Hospital for saving my life.

I am a member of a local gym and work out several days a week. I have regular checkups with my primary care physician; I had never had high cholesterol, diabetes, or any other trouble with my health. I never had any fatigue or any other signals that I had a problem with my heart.

On November 3, 2010 my day started out as any other but at around 3:30 pm while I was at home, I suddenly passed out and went into full cardiac arrest, V FIB. My wife called 911 and they arrived at our home within 3 minutes. Chris Robinson, Kenneth Torain, Sgt. Ken Horton, Kristina Grothe, Chris Reagan, Michael Day, Brain Whitfield, Robbie Long, Debbie Farmer all responded. I was shocked several times to get my heart restarted.

Once I arrived at PMH, the care I received was wonderful and the dedication of the staff to keep me alive was unbelievable. My heart stopped several more times and the staff had to shock my heart back into rhythm over 20 times. Dr. Robin Moore never gave up on me; she stayed with me for over 3 ½ hours until I was stable enough to transfer to Duke.

I feel that some would have given up but the Emergency Room staff at Person Memorial never did, and for that I am truly grateful to Dr. Moore, Lindsay Lewis, Michael Pittmon, and Elizabeth Andre.

After having quadruple by-pass I am now coming to Person Memorial’s new Cardiac Rehab Center. The staff here is great and I am thankful that we have this facility here instead of having to go to Durham 3 days a week for physical therapy.

Again, thank you so much for all of your hard work and dedication.