Val’s missed step leads to flight for specialist care

Val doesn’t remember much about her accident, or the weeks after, but she remembers the comfort of the New Zealand Flying Doctor Service.

“Oh, they did a wonderful job. They kept checking in on me, asking if I was warm and if I needed anything. I felt so comfortable in their care.”

Val Beattie was transferred on the New Zealand Flying Doctor Service from Christchurch Hospital to Dunedin Hospital for specialist rehabilitation after a brain bleed.

It had all started three weeks prior, when Val fell from the porch of her son and daughter-in-law’s house. Val said she “missed the step somehow” and fell backwards onto her head.

“I remember my son and daughter-in-law telling the grandkids not to pick me up and then the gentleman from St John saying ‘Val, we think you’ve got a brain bleed.’ I remember being put into an ambulance and going to the emergency department, and that’s the last thing I remember for three weeks.”

Those three weeks were spent at Christchurch Hospital, after which Val and husband Karl were given the choice to go for specialist rehabilitation in Dunedin or Wellington.

“We chose Dunedin as it was closer to family and Karl could travel up and down to see me,” Val says.

After eight weeks in Dunedin, Val was back on the New Zealand Flying Doctor Service plane returning home.

She says she feels very blessed.

“I have a wonderful husband Karl who looks after me – he’s just brilliant – and I have my children and grandchildren in my life.

“I know many people pass away from a brain bleed so I feel very lucky to be alive.

“St Johns and Christchurch Hospital did such a good job and I’m so grateful to the New Zealand Flying Doctor Service for the incredible care they gave me. They are just wonderful.”