Page 9 - whidbey Health Pulse e-mafazine

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Patient Perspectives

No Fear, Great Doc

Doug Taibi underwent surgery at WhidbeyHealth
A Lung Scan Medical Center this year. He wrote the following

Saved His Life email to a friend and neighbor, who volunteers
at WhidbeyHealth. Taibi was grateful to her for
helping him find a surgeon with whom he could feel
comfortable and confident. He wrote:
I loved the surgeon you recommended — Dr. John Hassapis — from the
moment he walked into the room and introduced himself as John. From then on it
Oak was ‘John and Doug.’
Harbor He did not take notes during our first session; he just listened intensely and asked
resident
Charles every question I was going to bring up before I had a chance to. I came home with
R. Erps amazing packet of diagrams and explanations he had hand-written and drew,
was lucky while we were talking. He has a manner of dissipating fears before they arise, and
to have a obviously has an ethic of placing the patient, and their needs, above all else. All
doctor who the hospital staff — from the receptionist to the nurses to the anesthetist — were
recommended welcoming, kind and compassionate from the moment I walked through the door.
regular lung scans. It was a great experience. Now, I’m hopefully not running right back to surgery any
time soon, but if I had to — I’d go with that group in a heartbeat.
“I’m a 72-year-old, 100 percent combat ~ Douglas M. Taibi, Langley
disabled Vietnam vet,” Erps said. “As a
result of my exposure to Agent Orange
my doctor Judye Scheidt DO, ordered Bad Fall, Good Experience
and having been diagnosed with COPD,
regular scans to ensure that I didn’t When Langley resident Diane Divelbess took a bad
have any issues with my lungs.” fall in her home, she ended up in a very crowded
WhidbeyHealth Emergency Room on a busy day
Good thing she did, because in August in July.
2017, a scan detected a spot on Erps’
right lung. “Before long a very kind physician brought me to
Diagnostic Imaging and closely examined my jaw,”
“I had lung surgery to remove the spot, Divelbess recalls. “My cheek was broken, there
which proved to be cancerous. Because was damage to the sinus area and my upper jaw was
of the early scan I received, I feel that dislocated.”
I owe my life to my doctor and to early
detection from the scan. I cannot say Divelbess said that, for her, having WhidbeyHealth Medical
enough about the importance of early Center here on the island is crucial and although the hospital is a well-equipped
screening and scans. They saved my life.” Critical Access Hospital, she knows it is limited, but always ready when issues
~ Charles Erps, Oak Harbor arise. Hospital staff immediately called Oak Harbor oral and facial surgeon, Dr.
Lance Keyes.
“If WhidbeyHealth can’t do something they call in somebody who can, just
as they did for me with Dr. Keyes. He’s a terrifically skilled and nice fellow,”
Divelbess said. “He came in the afternoon to my hospital room and arranged
To Learn More for the operating room that evening. I had an operation at 8 p.m. and was out of

CT lung screening surgery by 10 p.m. I left the hospital the next day.”
“I’ve always had a good experience there. Even the food is good! This time
Diagnostic Imaging I was irritated that I couldn’t eat the food because my jaw was wired shut.
360.678.7607 • 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., M-F Unfortunately, everything had to be puréed.”
~ Diane Divelbess, Langley