A caring community

Dear Editor:

This letter is long overdue, but I would like to thank the help of the first responders of Overstreet for their quick response on March 26, 2011. I have lived in this particular community for over 20 years and have never needed any medical response until that evening, but they showed up and kept me going until the ambulance arrived. I had a seizure, the first in my life, and luckily, my sister-in-law called 911 while my partner administered CPR as I had stopped breathing, until the first responders came to my home. I had just come home that day from having surgery in Panama City the day before. I wish I could remember, or know the names of the first responders and members of the ambulance unit, but all I remember is a man with a black mustache leaning over me when I came back. I truly thank everyone involved in that incident, and will never forget that man’s face. Also, the lady in the back of the ambulance that tended to me on the way back to the hospital. Thank all of you so much. You will never know how much you are all appreciated.

Also, to the staff of Sacred Heart Hospital on the Gulf; after a separate but medically related surgery performed in Pensacola at Sacred Heart Hospital this fall, I began to hemorrhage at that site of the surgery earlier this month. Again, I wish I could remember names of the doctor and nurse attending me in the emergency room, but I believe they will know who I am. I am truly grateful, as I was treated with kindness and the utmost respect for what I was going through. April, thank you, as you are the only one whose name I remember.

And lastly, I would like to thank all the family, friends, churches, co-workers, the VFW and folks I don’t even know for their prayers throughout all of this. I know I had prayers from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but for a homegrown gal, those that came from my hometown are the most special. I know that God has a place for me to be, and saved me due to your prayers.

Thank you, to all of you; those whom I know the best and those whom I will never know. You know who you are, and I am so grateful to you for caring for someone whose life was saved, not just once, but probably twice.

Sheila Lucas

Port St. Joe