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‘Means so much’: Caring ambos grant dying man his sweet final wish

Sep 05, 2018

Queensland ambulance officers granted a dying patient's wish to eat a caramel sundae on his way to palliative care. Source: Twitter/ Queensland Ambulance

An elderly man was granted his dying wish by caring paramedics, as he made his way to hospital in Queensland for the final time.

Severely unwell and on the way to palliative care, Ron’s final journey was made all that more sweet after the paramedics went out of their way to treat him to his favourite snack.

After learning from his wife Sharon that the Gold Coast man had barely eaten over the past two days, the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) team asked Ron “if he could eat anything, what would it be”? With a craving for ice cream, Ron simply replied “a caramel sundae” and with that his wish was granted.

Making a quick detour on their journey, the ambos stopped off at McDonald’s to purchase the treat for Ron, and even took a quick snap of the happy moment.

Sharing the photo on Twitter, the ambulance officers received plenty of praise from followers for their kind gesture during what is normally a sad situation.

GC resident Sharon called QAS for her husband Ron’s final journey to palliative care. Officers arrived and during observations of Ron, Sharon noted that he'd barely eaten over 2 days. The officers asked, if you could eat anything, what would it be? Ron replied, a caramel sundae. pic.twitter.com/uDb9Qlbj6N

— Queensland Ambulance (@QldAmbulance) September 4, 2018

“Awww this has brought tears to my eyes. Such beautiful kind people,” one person wrote. Another said: “QAS officers to the rescue. Something so simple that means so much. Such an amazing profession to care for us in our most vulnerable of times.”

While a third said: “Good on you Ron, hope you enjoyed every single mouthful. You can’t train people to think of things like this. Ambos, each and every single one, are so bloody special.”

Speaking to The Courier following the event, QAS Gold Coast Assistant Commissioner John Hammond expressed how important it is for them to make patients feel comfortable and cared for.

“It is why people join the job, for that level of compassion and care they show, above and beyond all the clinical stuff we do,” he said.

“People can an ambulance when they are at a low point and are quite vulnerable and this sort of stuff highlights that it’s the simple things and the level of compassion that make a really big difference to people.”

Paramedics are known for their caring nature with a Hervey Bay team last year granting a dying patient’s wish to see the ocean again, for one last time.

The crew were transporting the patient to the palliative care unit of the local hospital when the patient expressed that he just wished she could be at the beach again.

So the paramedics decided to take a diversion and drove her to the beach at Hervey Bay where they wheeled her out and found a comfortable spot for her to take in the view.

They said tears were shed as took it all in one last time.