Beautiful picture of dying woman’s last wish inspires new service
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you don’t remember the beautiful story of two paramedics fulfilling a dying woman’s last wish, then allow for a refresher. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Two Queensland ambulance crew took a terminally ill woman to a trip to the beach for the very last time. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The QAS posted a bittersweet snap of the moment while the patient overlooked the water at a beach in Hervey Bay, just north of Brisbane. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Helen Donaldson, the Officer in charge of Hervey Bay, posted a pic of the trip on Facebook with the hospital bed overlooking the ocean. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“She just wished she could be at the beach again,” the post reads.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Above and beyond, the crew took a small diversion to the awesome beach at Hervey Bay to give the patient this opportunity.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The beautiful moment turned out to tug on the heartstrings of the state government as well as the Queensland Ambulance service who have teamed up to launch a new Wish ambulance. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The service will be used to grant wishes for terminally ill and to take Queenslanders who need care on important journeys before they die - whether that be one last trip to a sentimental place or to their grandkids for the last time. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The new Wish ambulance will be staffed by volunteer paramedics and run by Palliative Care Queensland who will begin the service towards the end of the year. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Wish service is a first for Australia and will run out of a decommissioned but fully functional ambulance donated by the Queensland Ambulance Service along with a $55,000 donation by the government to be used for seed funding. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Health Minister Steven Miles said the heartwarming story that came out of Hervey Bay resonated with so many people. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Our ambos have been doing these kinds of things forever really," he said on Thursday.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"But they've had to sneak around and when they've been busy they haven't been able to do it."</span></p>
