Wally Garland is no stranger to helping others. As a Vietnam-era military veteran and Island Health employee, Garland is often there to help his fellow veterans and citizens.

Outside of working as a Patient Registration Representative with Island Health, Garland spends his time lending a helping hand to his fellow veterans as the Commander of American Legion Post 13.

While being there for others is the norm for Garland, he found himself needing assistance from a co-worker that would ultimately prove life-saving late last year, according to an Island Health news release.

While working in Island Health’s Emergency Department on a December evening, Emergency Department Charge Nurse Kate Scherer noticed Garland appeared severely unwell.

“I was working on getting people in, getting them triaged and getting them registered,” Garland recalled during a recent interview with the Anacortes American.

“I was feeling bad, but I have a bad pancreas and I have pain.”

With his battle against chronic pancreatitis, Garland admits he has a high tolerance for pain. Initially, he rejected Scherer’s persistence toward being medically evaluated in favor of following the military veteran mentality of powering through and continuing to help others.

“I tried to tell her this is normal, I’m OK,” Garland said. “But I wasn’t. I was sweating profusely.”

While Garland persisted, Scherer was keenly aware something was off.

“I noticed that he just was not himself. I sat down to talk with him and found he just appeared to be having trouble doing tasks which he usually does really well,” Scherer said in an email to the American.

At this point, Garland was “white as a sheet” and his lips were beginning to turn blue. Scherer persisted and Garland ultimately acquiesced.

After Scherer took Garland’s vitals, it was discovered the American Legion Commander was in the midst of a heart attack. “I assumed it was my pancreas, and it was my pancreas as well,” Garland said. “But, my pancreas caused me to have a heart attack.”

“… The pain, it was the pain from my pancreas that caused so much stress on the heart,” he added.

Island Health’s Emergency Department team’s swift action led to Garland’s prompt transport to Seattle, where he underwent emergency surgery.

He told the Anacortes American that without Scherer’s intervention, he would have powered through the pain, returned home and went to sleep.

“I would have tried to go home. I would have gone home and never woke up,” he said.

With her prompt action, Garland will live to fight another day. Scherer believes the “tight bond between work teams” afforded her the ability to immediately recognize something was wrong on that December day, according to the news release.

“We are family,” Garland said of the nurses and doctors that came to his aid.

“It’s amazing, we are family just like in the military, (it’s) that same camaraderie,” he said.

Garland’s sentiments were echoed by Scherer, who said she asked Garland to trust in the team the night of his heart attack. While many could say Scherer’s rapport with Garland led to her identifying an issue that was life threatening, she shies away from claiming she saved his life.

“No one person saves a life,” Scherer said. “It is always a team effort. I am so happy I was there but it is the team we have that makes it work. Our team has been through a lot, Covid, patient violence, loss of resources beyond Island Health’s control.”

Three weeks removed from his heart attack, Garland has returned to work with Island Health.

“I feel really good,” Garland said.