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“I know I’m lucky and I can’t be more grateful.” 

Sherry, a resident of Grand Valley, would never have imagined she would one day be able to say something not many people can; she has died three times and survived.   

Her harrowing ordeal began in the evening of Sunday April 14, 2024. After a long full day away from home, all Sherry wanted was to relax at home with a little TV time. Unfortunately, this was not going to happen.  

As the evening progressed, she experienced relentless heartburn. She couldn’t understand why.  

Sherry was finding it harder to move on her own, and she required support from her husband to stand and walk. Her body was weakening. After her husband helped her to the ground to prevent any falls, he called 9-1-1.  

Critical-life saving minutes 

Dufferin County paramedics Georgia Reidl and Evan Daemke responded to the call in a minute and a half. They found Sherry with extremely low blood pressure. Sherry asked them if she was experiencing a heart attack. “Yes, I think so,” one of them told her as they were taking her vitals and helping her swallow an aspirin.   

Then, things moved quickly.  

Firefighter Jeff Beatty arrived as part of the emergency response, and the trio transported Sherry outside to the waiting ambulance. 

Jeff began chest compressions as Evan used the defibrillator seven times to repeatedly bring Sherry back.  

Sherry lost her vitals three times, as they raced to get her to Southlake Regional Health Centre, home of the regional cardiac program. Patients are transferred for specialised care by partners, including those in Dufferin County.  

When Sherry awoke in the hospital, she panicked and was in excruciating pain and with no memory of what had happened after leaving her street. Her husband was able to share some of those details.  

The nurses and doctors at Southlake provided exceptional care. They told Sherry how lucky she was to have survived. She was discharged three days after being admitted to hospital.  

Liz Lalingo, Southlake’s Director of Cardiac Health credits the hard working and dedicated emergency response teams and Headwaters Health Care Centre to ensuring Sherry received the life-saving care she needed before being transferred to Southlake. “We truly appreciate their continued partnership.”  

Filling in the blanks 

Sherry remembers nothing except being in the ambulance with the paramedics and firefighter, answering all their questions and recalling the evening’s events that led to the 9-1-1 call.  

As she recovered, Sherry was eager to “fill in the blanks” of her near-death experience. She had heard how lucky she was to be alive and was so grateful for everyone involved in saving her life. There were still missing pieces between leaving home and waking in the hospital. Sherry needed to understand what happened.  

Meeting her paramedics 

She connected with Gary Staples, Chief of Dufferin County Paramedics to see if he could help. In no time, she met paramedics Georgia and Evan and spoke with firefighter Jeff Beatty. It was an emotional reunion. 

Sherry had a critical life-threatening event and was resuscitated. It was a challenging and dynamic call but ultimately very rewarding. The likelihood of surviving an out of hospital cardiac arrest is extremely low - higher when witnessed by or in the care of EMS but still remarkably low. Making this a relatively rare event.  

In emergency medical services (EMS), you are often meeting people on the worst day of their lives. Typically, we are called to negative situations which all too often have tragic endings. Due to the nature of our country's understandably strong health privacy laws we rarely even get to know the outcome of our patients and rarer still reconnect with them.  - Evan Daemke 

I got a little emotional getting to talk to her and hear about her life after her medical event. She got to continue on thanks to my partners quick thinking and lifesaving interventions. It was one of the most critical calls I've gotten to be a part of yet. I've never been prouder to work with someone.  I've never been more proud and happy getting to work for the service I do. - Georgia Reidel 

Regional Cardiac Program’s Role 

As the home of the regional cardiac program, Southlake works together with health system partners to provide leading edge cardiac care to patients across the region, including those who live in Dufferin County.  

Advice to other women  

After her experience, Sherry has become an advocate for preventative heart health among women. Heart attacks can present differently in woman compared to men; they don’t always get the same symptoms. Sherry’s advice to all women is to listen to their bodies, it will tell you when something is wrong.  

“I had persistent heartburn and a little nausea all that week leading up to my heart attack. I kept ignoring it and really shouldn’t have,” she said. “I would say to other women, don’t be afraid to call your doctor or 911 for help. It is better to get timely help, for you and your family’s sake.”  

Recovery includes at-home support 

Now on the road to recovery, Sherry is back working modified duties taking it one day at a time. She is in therapy for her PTSD and suffers from panic attacks. She is working hard with the encouragement of her friends and family.  

“The fact that Sherry is back to living her life, to be able to love and cherish her family after it was all so very nearly taken away forever is extraordinary," said Evan. 

Sherry is now a patient of the Dufferin County Community Paramedicine Program, a community-based health care service that helps people live safely and independently at home.  Programs like Community Paramedicine help ensure individuals receive follow-up support and care in their recovery at home, which can prevent other emergencies from happening.