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11.59pm
That’s it, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for your company tonight. Time for just one last Facebook Live video update.
A big thanks to Wimmera Base Hospital and Wimmera Health Care Group for allowing us to bring you this live blog.
11.25pm
Joanne Glenn, from Dimboola, has spent a few hours being treated in the Emergency Department.
She had trouble with her lungs this evening and stopped breathing during her sleep.
Her fiance Mark Kneebone didn’t want to take any chances so they came to emergency.
“I’ve got pneumonia and bronchitis,” she said
“I’ve also had pleuritis in the past and that might have scarred my lungs.”
Joanne said the doctor had booked her in for a sleep test.
“They think i might have sleep apnoea, where my tongue rolls back in my throat,” she said.
Joanne said she’s been trying to give up cigarettes.
“It’s a bit of a health scare. Sometimes you’ve just got to have a scare to change things,” she said.
“The hospital has been fantastic. The doctor was very thorough and checked every vital sign. The nurses were great too.”
Joanne has just come back from living around Alice Springs for 11 years.
“The hospitals down here are 100 per cent better,” she said.
After about three hours in the emergency room, Joanne and Mark were able to go home.
“We’ll go to McDonald’s first, get a Big Mac,” Joanne said .
10.45pm
Associate nurse unit manager Jess has sat down for a video interview.
She says that working in a regional area can be a challenge, because you are likely to know some of the patients, but it is rewarding to help people in their hour of need.
She said people who arrive at the Emergency Department under the influence of alcohol or drugs can pose a particular challenge as the unit must balance the need to help patients with the need to protect its staff members.
10.22pm
We’re more than half way through. Time for a Facebook Live video update.
9.42pm
Horsham’s Matt Heard has a bit of a story to tell. He cut himself while trying to modify a potato peeler.
“I’m a left-hander and the peeler has this big plastic knob on the end of the handle that always sticks into my hand,” he said.
Matt decided to grab a big bread knife and cut off the peeler’s plastic handle hilt. He placed the peeler on the bench and leaned on it for extra leverage.
“I got through it but I also cut into my thumb. It’s got to have gone down to the bone. Must have,” he said.
“I have a big first aid kit that I put up on a high shelf so I was trying to grab it with one hand while blood went everywhere.”
The hospital’s Dr Jordan Lee gave Matt a local anesthetic before putting in stitches.
Matt’s plan to have a Friday night lamb cutlet dinner with fresh peeled sweet potatoes was put on hold.
9.04pm
The Taylor family from Dimboola have brought five-year-old Charlie in after he had an accident on the trampoline.
Mum Ange said he has been very brave after jumping and falling awkwardly.
“We had some friends over and we had a lot of kids around. They were jumping on the trampoline and Charlie did a bit of a double bounce,” she said.
“He’s dislocated his ankle and broken his tibia and fibula.
“I said I would chuck the trampoline away but Charlie got upset when he heard that.”
Charlie was a bit out of it on painkillers but he gave the thumbs up while he cuddled a stuffed toy rhino.
8.42pm
Here are some pics from earlier in the night.
8.29pm
Sorry for the delay in getting started, folks.
There were a few technical issues to work through.
It’s a busy night here in Horsham’s Wimmera Base Hospital Emergency Department.
All the beds are full. There are two sick babies, a person with liver issues, a person with a foreign object in their eye, a person with neck pain and another with a mental health issue.
Earlier
The Mail-Times will live blog from the Emergency Department at Wimmera Base Hospital in Horsham from 8pm on Friday, August 12.
Visit www.bit.ly/edwimlive on Friday night for live blog updates or follow @RexMartinich and @Wim_Mail_Times on Twitter.
Some parts of the night will also be on Facebook Live.
Live stories, pictures and videos will offer a behind-the-scenes view of a night in the emergency department.
Mail-Times last covered a night in the emergency department back in 2012.