Julie Andrews-Legacé and her husband Richard Legacé of Curran are a very grateful couple, and they have decided to show appreciation by helping hungry people in the community.
Julie said four United Counties of Prescott and Russell (UCPR) paramedics saved Richard’s life back on July 26. At around 3pm that afternoon, a health emergency struck.
“Unbeknownst to us, my husband was in the beginnings of a heart attack,” Julie said.
Richard had not felt good for a couple of days before the heart attack and decided to not go into the office at his job in Ottawa that day. He had complained that it felt like an elephant was sitting on his chest and went to bed. As symptoms worsened, Julie began to plan to drive Richard to a hospital.
“We thought it was indigestion or something like that.”
Realizing the situation was more serious, Julie called 911 and the operator suggested Richard be given aspirin immediately to counter the effects of a likely heart attack. One paramedic soon arrived and began performing tests on Richard, then three more paramedics arrived at their home. Then, Richard went into cardiac arrest.
“All of a sudden, I saw the look of death on my husband’s face,” remarked Julie.
“He was out for a good minute and a half,” she added.
The paramedics were able to resuscitate Richard and he was taken to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and received three stents to correct the blockage of arteries which led to his heart attack. He was released from hospital after three days and went home to recover.
Julie and Richard wanted to show their appreciation for the paramedics. When they asked them about making a charitable contribution, the paramedics suggested supporting the Riceville Food Bank.
The couple decided to purchase $200 in healthy, lunch snack foods for the food bank to assist families whose children have returned to school this September.
The couple has also met with the paramedics who responded to Richard’s heart attack to show their appreciation.
