NATIONAL HEALTH TRANSPORT, INC.

#CareLikeFamily Friday – If there’s one certainty doctors and healthcare providers know it’s that tomorrow isn’t promised. Martha Ines Perez Bermudez, 58, came to UCF Lake Nona Hospital ER in February with abdominal complaints. Tests soon revealed an aggressive clear cell endometrial cancer was the problem. Dr. Maria Ruiz performed a hysterectomy and surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible. While surgery was successful, the cancer didn’t respond to treatment and later this spring her care turned palliative. When Bermudez re-entered the hospital last week suffering from shortness of breath, loss of appetite, and overall fatigue she was hopeful she would qualify for clinical trials. Sadly, she learned the cancer was too far advanced at this point and hospice care was recommended. As she processed that reality and all she was facing when she would be discharged the following day she said “I just want to go to the beach.” Hospital Case Manager Lissette Francis made some calls and reached Brian Halterman at National Health Transport, and together they formulated a plan. The next morning as Bermudez prepared to leave the hospital she said she was prepared to go home, but was met by Francis who said, “no, no, no . . . you’re going to the beach!” Halterman had arranged transport and EMS workers Christopher Perez-Guzman and Molly Barrere volunteered to come in on their day off to take Bermudez on her last ride. They travelled from Lake Nona to Jetty Park in Port Canaveral and met up with Canaveral Fire Rescue, who were at the park just leaving a call. The crew secured a 4x4 ATV buggy to accommodate Bermudez and bring her down to the beach so she could walk on the sandy shore. “It was heartwarming to see how everyone came together to care for this patient,” Perez-Guzman said. “Once we had her on the shore and in the water she thanked us for the adventure and said she was so happy and that’s all she could ask for.” Francis said being able to make Bermudez’s final wish come true is what her job is all about. “This is what it means to care like family, and something I will never forget,” she said. “I’m a cancer doctor,” Dr. Ruiz said. “So often the story ends here, but this is a unique twist and it’s why I do what I do – to make our patients’ reality as beautiful as possible.” Halterman added “we too believe in HCA’s mission to also be committed to the care and improvement of human lives, and sometimes healthcare isn’t a pharmacological or a treatment, but something as simple as a walk on the beach.” HCA Florida Healthcare HCA Healthcare