Baxenden patient praises matron for battling through snow (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Baxenden patient praises matron for battling through snow

11:55am Thursday 14th January 2010 in

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AN ex-ambulance officer with long-term lung disease has told how a community matron has battled through the snow to deliver his medication.

Ron Kellett, 60, has had COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) for nearly 10 years.

He is housebound and lives on a steep hill on Alliance Street in Baxenden.

But the icy conditions haven't stopped Murray Miller, a community matron for NHS East Lancashire's Hyndburn and Ribble Valley team, from coming to his aid this past month.

Mr Kellett said: “I am on oxygen 24 hours a day, so when Murray visits he checks that my oxygen levels are right and if they drop down too low he can arrange medication.

“If I get a chest infection he can get an emergency prescription to me so I don't have to call a doctor out.

“And he is brilliant at liaising with me and social services for for equipment to make my life easier.”

Murray has spent two years working with Mr Kellett and his wife Jane, 51, who is her husband's full-time carer.

The 52-year-old said: “I have been over to see him to assess him for a chest condition and to help him take his medication.

“We've managed to keep him out of hospital for quite a time.

“He is a lovely bloke and what is so good is that he really appreciates our help.”