By EMS1 Staff
QUEENSLAND, Australia — The paramedic who took a dying patient to see the ocean one last time cried as he spoke out about the experience.
9News reported that Graeme Cooper and Danielle Kellam explained the viral photo that showed Cooper looking out at the ocean with a palliative care patient who was on a gurney.
Cooper said they were transporting the patient when she mentioned she loved the beach.
“We got another call to take her back to hospital because things had changed and she wanted to pass away at the hospital so we said ‘how about the run by the beach again,’” he said. “It’s absolutely all about the patient, we’re about the people and this moment for her was closure at the end of her journey.”
Cooper teared up when talking about the experience.
“I was just standing with the patient before I went down to get the water for her so she could put her hand in it and actually feel the salt water again for the last time,” Cooper said. “When she had her hand in the water and swirling it around, I had contact with her hand. She lifted her hand and put it into her mouth; she’d had a lot of trouble swallowing. She said it was just so beautiful and she closed her eyes for a minute, and her heart rate just accelerated, I could see it palpating in her chest.”
“I can’t explain what and why we do it, but we do,” Cooper added. “To spend time with somebody that you don’t know, I had never met this lady before in my life, but it’s like she was my family.”
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