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Soaked

with perspiration, unable

to get comfortable and with an extreme

heaviness in his chest, John Verkaik,

of Eustis, awoke at 4:15 one morning,

without even a thought that he was

having a heart attack.

“I didn’t think it was that bad, so I

walked around for a little bit and laid

back down for a while thinking it was

just going to pass,” says Verkaik. Joyce

Verkaik, John’s wife, insisted they call

their daughter, Charlene, who works

dispatch at Lake County Emergency

Medical Services, hoping she might

have a suggestion.

Charlene immediately recognized the

signs of a heart attack and instructed her

mother to call 911.

“I couldn’t get my mind to believe

what was happening until the paramedics

arrived and they had me hooked up to the

GET INVOLVED IN YOUR

HEART HEALTH TODAY

Join us for one of our upcoming Heart

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to register.

Prabhakara B. Kunamneni,

MD

in a heartbeat

machines,” says Verkaik. “It just wasn’t

happening the way I would have imagined

it. I didn’t have intense pain, but rather it

felt like someone was just sitting on top of

me. I really didn’t want to call 911 because

I didn’t want to bother anyone, but I’m

glad I did.”

Integrated, specialized care

Verkaik was taken by ambulance to

the emergency department at Florida

Hospital Waterman, which has a unified

communication system with Lake

Emergency Medical Services and other

local first responders. The system helps

to ensure virtually seamless care from

the time of the 911 call to the arrival at

the hospital. Lake Emergency Medical

Services is equipped to perform an EKG

(electrocardiogram) during transport

and deliver the results directly from the

ambulance to the

hospital.

Once Verkaik

arrived at the

emergency

department,

physicians and the

medical team were

ready to act quickly.

He was immediately

Life can change—

John and Joyce Verkaik enjoy their afternoon smoothie.

4

FHWaterman.com

|

352-253-3333

Charlene DeGroot, an

emergency services dispatcher,

knows how important it is to

act quickly at the first sign of

a heart attack.