“Rhea Medical Center saved my life!”
–Tony Potter
Tony Potter wants the community to know just how thankful he is to have Rhea Medical Center as his hometown hospital!
On October 21st, Tony Potter and his wife, Carol, were driving from Chattanooga to their home in Dayton when Tony’s left jaw started hurting. “I thought it was a toothache at first,” remembers Tony. “By the time we got to Sale Creek, my whole jaw was in pain, and I was having trouble breathing.”
With the car’s emergency flashers blinking, Carol drove quickly to Rhea Medical Center. The staff was waiting. Bradlee Brown, a Critical Care Paramedic, immediately got Tony into a wheelchair, and a team of ER professionals went to work, led by Dr. Karen Whittaker, an emergency medicine physician. “Before I knew it, three or four people were working on me,” says Tony. “They knew what they were doing. I felt like I was in good hands, with real professionals who put me at ease and made me feel comfortable.”
Tony was suffering a serious heart attack caused by blockage in his left anterior descending artery, also known as the “widow maker” because the survival rate is only 12 percent if the blockage occurs outside a hospital. After being in the hospital for less than 45 minutes, Tony was life-flighted to Chattanooga. “I really do think Rhea Medical Center saved my life!” says Tony. “It’s time people knew how good our hometown hospital is.”
Micah finally went to see Dr. Lee Radford (right), a board-certified orthopedic surgeon with Rhea Medical Center. “Dr. Radford is a super guy,” says Micah. “He also serves as the team doctor for the football team at Rhea County High School. I’ve really gotten to know him and trust him and appreciate how he’s giving back to our community.”
As it turned out, Micah had torn his meniscus, a C-shaped piece of cartilage that acts like a cushion between the shinbone and the thighbone. Dr. Radford performed minimally invasive arthroscopic surgery to repair the knee this past August.
“I checked in at the hospital at six in the morning and was back home by 9:30,” Micah says. “Dr. Radford guided me through my recovery, which took about a month. I feel better now than I have in years. My knee is 100 percent back to normal, thanks to Dr. Radford and Rhea Medical Center!”