Patient Stories

Cardiovascular Patient

“ Of all the shocks Andrea received, being able to teach again was the biggest. ”

Andrea Conklin
It was 3:15p.m. on a Friday afternoon at Newburgh Free Academy. As I was speaking to the guidance counselor, I said I felt dizzy and collapsed. The secretary in the office called 911 and when the ambulance came, they shocked me two times. I was brought to St. Luke‘s Cornwall Hospital, where I was shocked an additional two times. I was in cardiac arrest. The team at the hospital put me into an induced coma, using what is called therapeutic hypothermia treatment, a cutting edge procedure that quickly reduces body temperature to help prevent neurological damage; a procedure that on April 11, 2014 saved my life. Dr. B. Hadid treated me as if I were his own family member. I can‘t say enough about St. Luke‘s Cornwall Hospital. They saved my life.