When Hervey Bay resident Helen Schmidt sat at her husband’s hospital bedside last year, she found herself in a situation no family should ever face, forced to make life-or-death decisions without access to critical medical imaging.
Her husband, Douglas, had suffered a diabetic coma and was unconscious in the Intensive Care Unit at Hervey Bay Hospital. For eight days, he remained on life support, experiencing constant seizures, while doctors tried to assess whether his brain was still functioning.
An MRI scan could have provided the answer. But over the long weekend, and the days that followed, it simply wasn’t available.
‘I was told there were not enough MRI appointments available each week for public patients at IMED across the road, and there was already a backlog’ Helen recalls. ‘They couldn’t take him off the machines to move him, it was too risky’.
Helen is now leading a petition calling for a fully funded MRI machine to be installed directly at Hervey Bay Hospital. She is joined in her campaign by State Member for Hervey Bay, David Lee, who has thrown his full support behind the call for better access to diagnostic services for the region.
‘Doctors didn’t know how to treat him because they couldn’t confirm the extent of the brain damage’ Helen said. ‘We were left with no answers. Eventually, after eight days, we made the decision to turn off life support, thinking he may not survive’.
Miraculously, Douglas did survive. His recovery was slow and uncertain, with weeks of confusion and memory loss. But as Helen explains, ‘We nearly lost him, maybe unnecessarily. If there had been an MRI in the hospital, we could have made an informed decision much sooner’.
A Queensland Health spokesperson has advised that ‘Patients requiring a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) are referred to local private imaging practices at no cost to them. Inpatients are prioritised according to clinical urgency and typically receive their scan within one to three days, while urgent or emergency cases are accommodated the same day’.
‘Outpatients are also referred to private facilities free of charge, this prevents patients having to travel outside the region for MRI services. We have been working with Queensland Health for some time to advocate for the need for an MRI machine in Hervey Bay to meet service needs. We continue to work through the feasibility of this and hope to offer this service in the future’.
Helen emphasises that her campaign is not about blaming the hospital or its staff. She wants it known that the care her husband received was excellent.
‘The ICU doctor, she was incredible. But she was just as limited as we were. She told me directly, without an MRI, we don’t know what’s happening in his brain’.
Her personal experience was the spark that led to the petition, and Helen is determined to ensure no other family has to make the same impossible choice.
Helen’s connection with State Member for Hervey Bay David Lee began through Douglas’s involvement with Rotary and community fundraising. Over time, the two families became close. When David visited the couple during Douglas’s illness, Helen shared her story, and he listened.
‘David has taken this seriously from the beginning. He has been a real support, and I’m so grateful he’s backing the petition’
David Lee, who is an honorary member of Rotary and a vocal advocate for regional health equity, said the petition aligns with the broader goal of improving emergency and diagnostic services in the Fraser Coast.
‘Installing an MRI machine at Hervey Bay Hospital isn’t just a medical upgrade, it’s a matter of timely, lifesaving care’ David said.
Douglas passed away earlier this year from an unrelated condition, but Helen’s mission continues in his memory.
‘This is for every other family who might face what we did. If we had an MRI at Hervey Bay Hospital, we could have known sooner. Families deserve that’ Helen reiterated.
The petition for an MRI machine at the Hervey Bay Hospital, directed to The Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, can be accessed using the QR code shown here. At the time of printing the petition has attracted over 2,300 signatures.