When he took a new job at a local hospital, one man had no idea colleagues would save his life

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When Marc Beech took a job as clinical lab director at Brookwood Baptist Medical Center near the end of December 2022, he had no idea his coworkers, including the ER nursing staff, would save his life less than eight months later.

Meet Marc Beech

Marc Beech is 53 years old and had no known history of heart disease—until recently. Like many people, he had a couple of risk factors, but his only trips to the ER had been to take care of his kids when they had the odd broken bone.

All of that changed on July 25, 2023.

Back pain that wasn’t muscle spasms

That morning, when Beech got to work, he started feeling pain in his back and under his ribs.

At first, it felt similar to back spasms, which he’d had before, so he went home for the day and figured he’d call his doctor to see what they recommended.

When he awoke from a nap a couple of hours later, he realized something was seriously wrong and called 911.

Home alone, Beech walked downstairs while he was on the phone with the 911 dispatcher, then hit the floor.

His memories of the next part are hazy…trying to get to the door to unlock it…barely getting his wallet out when they asked for ID…the paramedic asking if he had a hospital preference…saying Brookwood since he works there and it’s close to his house.

After that, he doesn’t remember much…waking up a couple of times during the ambulance ride…seeing the doors of the emergency room at Brookwood as they went through.

Calling 911 + going to Brookwood made all the difference

Five days later, when Beech was taken off sedation, the ventilator was removed and he awoke in the Coronary Care Unit at Brookwood Baptist Medical Center.

As he recovered, visitors began filling in the missing pieces—he’d had a massive pulmonary embolism that led to cardiac arrest not one, but three times.

Since he was discharged and came back to work, the word miracle keeps popping up.

“When you look at where my pH was, my O2 saturation…if Dr. Gill and the emergency room team hadn’t identified that I was in cardiac arrest, and if they hadn’t diagnosed the pulmonary embolism and administered thrombolytics when they did, there’s no chance that I would still be alive. I’m eternally grateful for their skill.”

Marc Beech, Lab Director, Brookwood Baptist Medical Center

ER nursing is a lifesaving profession

We spoke with Maribeth Booth, the charge nurse who was on duty the night Beech came in, who said they didn’t realize he was one of their coworkers until the end of the night.

“It’s hard to explain what it’s like working in the ER for 15 years. In the moment, you lose track of everything else that’s going on and you hardcore focus on what’s in front of you. When it’s happening, you know what you’re supposed to do—that’s our training.”

Maribeth Booth, Charge Nurse, Brookwood Baptist Health

“Marc will always be one of our miracle stories.”

Working in the ER means you rarely see the fruits of your labor, which makes Beech’s story even more remarkable to his coworkers, including Booth.

“Marc will always be one of our miracle stories. When he rolled into that ER, he was sitting up and breathing on his own. Within minutes (like maybe two), he was not. We did all the things we were taught to do. We had Dr. Gill (check spelling), who is outstanding, in there, giving us orders and we were all working together.

Within three hours, we had gotten him back from coding. As we were getting ready to take him to the cath lab, he grabbed my hand and opened his eyes. After the compressions and the life-saving medications we had to give, you don’t expect for someone to grab your hand, look at you and ask for a drink of water.

To have that kind of function and to be able to ask for that after everything he had just been through alone is a miracle. Now that he’s up and walking…we never get to see how people do afterward because usually, they go to another facility.”

From employee to patient and back again

Beech said the care he received for the 20 or so days he was in the hospital couldn’t have been better.

He stressed that most of the people taking care of him, whether it was nursing or therapies of different sorts, including dietary, respiratory, physical and occupational, didn’t even know he worked at the hospital.

“On the nights after visiting hours, those folks who took care of me weren’t concerned with the fact that I worked there. They treated me like a patient and the care I received was incredible. People went out of their way to make me more comfortable that were outside the scope of their responsibilities.

I feel blessed and thankful to be alive and all it’s changed my whole outlook.”

NOTE: If you live down 280, you need to know about Brookwood Baptist’s Freestanding Emergency Department.

Work with a team of people who save lives every day. Brookwood Baptist Medical Center is hiring.

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