4
aspire
Fall 2014
From a coffee shop crisis to Andy Abraham’s
return to health, Aspirus was there
Sharon’s Coffee Company
heart
A connection
of the
rushed by Beacon Ambulance to Aspirus Grand
View hospital in Ironwood. Emergency medicine
doctor Eric Maki, MD, called for Abraham to be
airlifted to Aspirus Wausau Hospital, even though
Ironwood and the surrounding areas were under
a severe winter storm. By the time they landed,
Abraham had regained full consciousness.
“When I got to Aspirus Wausau [Hospital] I
met [cardiothoracic surgeon] Dr. John Johnkoski,”
Abraham said. “He told me, ‘You’re a very lucky
man. You’re in one of the finest facilities in the
country.’ He followed it up with, ‘I’m going to take
care of you.’ And he did.”
Abraham underwent quadruple open-heart bypass
surgery. The very next day, medical staff had him
up out of bed and walking the halls. Cheering on his
recovery were his brothers and sisters—and Jackson,
who visited during Abraham’s weeklong hospital stay.
“Aspirus made my family feel totally welcome,”
Abraham said. “My brothers were engaged with all
of the caregivers who came through my room. They
had a relationship that developed instantly. I was
overcome by the compassion of the staff. I could
never really thank them enough.”
Aspirus makes the connections
While Abraham faced a major surgical operation,
not once did he fear for his life. He felt safe,
understood what the procedure entailed and knew,
right from the moment he arrived at Aspirus
Wausau, he was in the best hands.
LONGTIME
friends Andy Abraham and
Bruce Jackson have shared the same early-morning
routine for the past 10 years—meeting over coffee
at Sharon’s Coffee Company in downtown Hurley,
Wisconsin.
Abraham, a volunteer van driver for Oscar G.
Johnson VA Medical Center in Iron Mountain
and the former bass player for the Galaxies—an
Ironwood-based rock ’n roll band that garnered
national attention back in the 1950s, meets his
friend every morning at 7:30. At the same table
that overlooks Silver Street, he joins Jackson in
conversations about current events, politics and the
latest town news. One late March morning, however,
their routine took an unexpected turn when
Abraham, 72, suffered a major heart attack, right
before his friend’s eyes.
Fast action
“In a split second, Andy seized up right there in
his chair,” said Jackson, a courier at Aspirus Grand
View. “I yelled for the waitress to call 911, and we
lowered him to the floor. He wasn’t breathing, so I
immediately began chest compressions on him.”
Since heart disease doesn’t run in Abraham’s
family, he never thought he would be at risk for a
heart attack. In fact, the results of a nuclear stress
test (a test that measures blood flow to the heart
muscle) he had two years ago showed no sign of
blockages.
Unconscious and unresponsive, Abraham was
