Hrdlicka credits RHSHC for saving her life

CRESCO - The morning of April 2, Rita Hrdlicka was finishing her shift at Donaldson Company in Cresco. It seemed a day like any other, although she wasn’t feeling the best.

“My shift at Donaldson’s ends at 6 a.m. I had what felt like really bad heartburn, so I was trying to figure out what I had eaten during my 3:30 a.m. break,” Hrdlicka said.

Deciding heartburn wasn’t going to deter her, she attended an hour-long meeting from 6-7 a.m.

“I went home, washed my face, brushed my teeth, took two Rolaids and went to bed.”

Hrdlicka slept for about one hour. When she woke up again, she quickly realized something was very wrong.

“I realized it wasn’t heartburn but it was worse; I thought I was having a heart attack.”

She called her husband, Jeff.

“I asked if he could come home because I thought was having a heart attack,” she said, adding that the signs were not classic symptoms and while really wasn’t sure what was happening, but wanted him to take her to the hospital.

When he arrived, Rita said that her husband was going to take her to the emergency room, but a neighbor, who used to be a first responder, advised them to call 911.

Rita said, “The ambulance was at our house in about 10 minutes.”

Jeff adds, “It was really quick.” 

The medical personnel put Rita on a stretcher, hooked her up and discovered her hunch was correct: She was in the midst of a heart attack.

“They gave me a couple of nitroglycerin tablets but that didn’t seem to work. They got me to the ER, and that’s when it got really serious.”

She continues, “They gave me a clot-buster but it didn’t do anything. My blood pressure kept going down. They were originally going to fly me to Rochester (Minn.) but there was fog, so they decided to go to La Crosse (Wis.) instead. I should have called 911 right away, but luckily, the hospital was able to get me ready to fly to La Crosse in time. People need to pay attention to the signals their body gives them that something is wrong.”

Meanwhile, Regional Health Services of Howard County used its Avera e-Care technology to confer with medical professionals from Sioux Falls, S.D., and La Crosse via telemedicine.

RHSHC CEO Robin Schluter said, “This was another opportunity for us to be thankful for our connection with Avera and telemedicine. We were taking care of Rita here in Cresco and also in South Dakota and in Wisconsin. She was a tri-state patient.”

Rita said, “They called to Decorah to get the helicopter, which is such a nice service. They loaded me up and got me to La Crosse. I coded once in the helicopter and four times on the table.”

Becoming emotional, she adds, “God decided that I was going to live.”

 Jeff remembers the gravity of the situation. He said he talked to their children, Frank and Korey, about what is important in life.

“Once they did the surgery in La Crosse, the doctors were worried about the lack of blood flow to her major organs, and especially her brain, because she had coded so many times. So, he said, ‘I’ll give her a 50/50 chance; we’ve done all we can do.’ This was on Tuesday.”

Jeff continued, “The ventilator was breathing for quite some time. They said they would shut the ventilator off to increase her likelihood of breathing (on her own), which it did. After about an hour, they pulled the tubes. When I came back to her room, she was awake. She made it clear she was glad the tube was taken out,” he said.

He added, “At 6 a.m. she woke up and asked me if someone had gotten our daughter Korey to practice last night. The second thing she wanted to know is the result of the Women’s Final Four (basketball tournament). She wanted to know if Notre Dame had won,” he smiled.

By Thursday, April 4 at 5 p.m., Rita was back home in Cresco.

“I was probably in La Crosse for about 52 hours total,” she said.

As she recovers, Rita said she advises people to pay attention to their bodies.

“I thought I just had bad heartburn. We live in the Midwest where everybody works hard, everyone is sore and has aches and pains. I don’t think people listen to their bodies enough. Instinctively, sometimes people know when there is something wrong, but especially for women, heart attacks are often more fatal. Also, as women, we endure the pain of childbirth. Even in the ambulance when they ask you to rate your pain, a rating of ‘10’ is childbirth and I said my pain (with the heart attack) was an ‘8’. I thought, ‘This hurts but I can handle it.’”

Jeff agreed, “I was disbelieving at first. Rita is 51 years old with no high blood pressure and high cholesterol.”

Rita said her mother had heart problems so she knew heart disease was in her family.

“Listen to your body and make a doctor’s appointment if you have any concerns,” she said.

As she recovers from her scary ordeal, Rita said she feels fortunate so many offered to help her family.

“I grew up in Owatonna (Minn.), a town of 20,000 people, and I am so glad I live in Cresco. When I graduated high school, I moved to Minneapolis for nine months and realized I absolutely love small towns. We live out in the country, and I love going into places and knowing people and having conversations and saying hello. There was an outpouring of people offering to help. 

“At my son Frank’s (high school) graduation party, I had people doing multiple things to help,” she said. I would like to thank Frank’s and Korey’s classmates and Korey’s softball team. I want to thank my Donaldson Company coworkers and Jeff’s at Howard County Secondary Roads. All the community support was fantastic. I feel so blessed to be a member of the Cresco/ Protivin area.”

She continues, “I am blessed to have the friends and family that I do; it’s incredible. Tell your friends to tell their parents that they love them because you never know what could happen.”

As she looks back on her health scare, Rita is thankful for the people who assisted her and her family.

“It’s so important that we have this hospital here in Cresco,” she said. “They choose to stay in the town they live in and work here. I want to thank them for doing that. I want to thank the ambulance crew, the people at the ER and the rehabilitation people are wonderful, too.”

Schluter said, “Rural health care is bombarded by challenges, small community hospitals are closing or they discontinue OB services due to financial pressures. Legislators and others question the value and sustainability of full health care services in rural communities. It is during these times that stories like Rita’s emphasize the importance of health care close to home, for everyone, no matter where you live. Accessible health care for all rural citizens is important, it saves lives.”