HCA Florida Westside "angel" nurse credited for saving South Florida gas attendant's life
PLANTATION - Nurse Alison Seecoomar doesn't always get to follow up with her patients, but Luis Sanchez-Mendia had to see her again Friday.
"Thank you. Thank you so much," Sanchez-Mendia, who is 67, said during a teary embrace at HCA Florida Westside.
She wasn't his nurse on Nov. 10. She was just a customer at a gas station near the hospital, filling up her tank after her shift. Sanchez-Mendina was working at the gas station.
"I see him all the time as a hi and bye," Seecoomar said.
But this time was different. She recognized something was wrong. Sanchez-Mendia told her he's had some chest pains. She had her stethoscope with her, and took his pulse.
"Murmur. A loud murmur," Seecoomar said.
She told him to go to the hospital and she left. But she came back, since she was unsure if he'd actually go.
"My name is Alison. Please tell them that you know me. They will see you quicker," Seecoomar said.
That's when Sanchez-Mendia took her advice, and when he got to HCA Florida Westside Hospital, he found out he needed immediate surgery, and had a valve replaced in his heart on Nov. 15. He said he probably wouldn't have gotten help if she hadn't been there.
"She saved my life. She gave me one more opportunity," Sanchez-Mendia said.
Seecoomar said her instincts as a nurse were correct that morning.
"I don't want to say it's a nurse's duty, but a nurse's instinct to say hey you wanna check this out and don't put it off," Seecoomar said.
Sanchez-Mendia is glad that she picked his gas station that night.
"She don't go there. Maybe this story is different," Sanchez-Mendia said.
Sanchez-Mendia was expecting to be released from the hospital Friday evening, and he said this experience has given him a new outlook on life. Sanchez-Mendia turns 68 on Christmas Eve.
"This is the biggest gift I could ever receive," he said. "Nurse Allison truly is my angel."
The hospital said that it is "proud to celebrate the extraordinary care and dedication of its staff, who go above and beyond both in and out of the hospital to serve the community."
