Air ambulance helps to save Edenderry's Joe

Edenderry GAA fan Joe Swords is likely to be twice as supportive of his club in the future, after its pitch facilitated the air ambulance picking him up for an emergency life-saving operation.

Last Friday morning 60 year old former taxi-man Joe from Greenwood Park in Edenderry went to the doctor with a pain in his chest. Thanks to the air ambulance Joe reached Dublin just six minutes after leaving Edenderry, and he’s now recovering from a life saving heart operation in St James’s Hospital.

Joe’s brother-in-law Pat Cullen is the groundsman at Edenderry GAA’s football field on Carrick Road, where the air ambulance landed. “I got a call to see if it was ok for the air ambulance to land in the football field,” he said.

Just nine minutes later the ambulance had reached Edenderry from its base in Athlone, and Pat’s brother-in-law was whisked off to first a landing strip in Kilmainham and then St James’s Hospital. “It was something like what you’d see on the television,” Pat said.

No acting was needed for the unfolding drama however - Joe’s ailing heart provided that all by itself. An emergency operation was successful, and Joe was discharged from hospital last Tuesday evening and is now recovering at home with his wife Phil and family.

Though it’s the first time Edenderry’s GAA pitch has been used by the air ambulance as part of a real-life emergency situation, a training exercise saw exactly the same process run through back in September 2012 to allow both air and land ambulance crews select a location to meet in the event of the air ambulance being needed to respond to an emergency.

“It just worked to perfection,” Pat said. Edenderry GAA PRO Garrett Reilly added his thoughts. “We’re delighted the service is available in Edenderry and even more delighted we could facilitate it and help save a life,” he said.