Heart scare has Clarence Valley Council’s Ashley Lindsay feeling lucky

‘That would’ve been it. Gone’: Ashley Lindsay swore as his heart was shocked back into rhythm. But the local government veteran counts himself lucky.

With his heart racing at 217 beats per minute, Clarence Valley Council general manager Ashley Lindsay was hit with the defibrillator while still awake at Maclean Hospital emergency room.

Unsurprisingly, he screamed out a loud expletive across the room as his body leapt off the table.

“Sorry about that,” he said to the nurses and doctors that surrounded him.

“That’s all right,” one said. “We know you’re alive now.”

Clarence Valley Council general manager Ashley Lindsay back at work after a heart scare.

Although back at work now three months after the incident, Mr Lindsay said it was a close run thing.

“I was out for lunch on May 15, and just started feeling dizzy and crook,” he said. “I was walking around for a while up and down the street, and my wife came out and I said ‘I think we should go home’,” he said.

“On our way home, I got to Palmers Channel, and I had blurred vision and said ‘take me to hospital’.”

On arriving at Maclean Hospital emergency, staff found his heart rate was at 217bpm, and he was suffering what is known as “VT”, or ventricular tachycardia – a heart rhythm disorder caused by abnormal electrical signals in the lower chambers of the heart.

He was hit with the paddles and his heart came back into rhythm over the course of an hour.

Mr Lindsay said his general fitness, both from being a former first-grade footballer with the North Sydney Bears and his fitness now were a factor in his recovery.

“The doctors and nurses couldn’t believe I kept going for that long,” he said. “Normally your heart goes into VT it’s not long before you go unconscious.

“One of the people who attended me told me I was lucky I was fit.”

Clarence Valley Council general manager Ashley Lindsay.

Mr Lindsay was sent to Lismore and Gold Hospitals for tests, including an MRI and angiogram, with doctors finding no blockage of the artery, just a problem with the electrics of the heart.

He was fitted with a pacemaker, a medical procedure he was also awake for, and saw the wires of the device “flapping around” as doctors put them in.

And in what you could call an ironic moment, the hospital power went out during the operation, causing some consternation as he was on the table.

“I’ve been really lucky – I haven’t had a sick day for twenty years,” Mr Lindsay said.

“The only thing wrong have been football injuries – knee surgery, shoulder surgery and that sort of stuff – and I guess you take for granted our medical system.

“But as soon as I presented to hospital they stepped straight in. People came running from everywhere and they did a fantastic job.”

Now back at the helm at council, Mr Lindsay admitted to keeping one eye on how things were going, praising acting general manager Laura Black for her work while he was recovering.

While he said he was fine, he didn’t want to push himself, and after 41 years in local government would still be seeking council approval to retire towards the end of the year.

“My plan was always to seek approval to go on leave from the end of this year … and now I’ll seek approval at the end of November and go on leave and retire,” he said.

Clarence Valley Council mayor Jim Simmons and director corporate Ashley Lindsay discuss the agenda before a council meeting.

“I’ve got my performance review next Tuesday, and if you look back when I was appointed in 2017, we adopted a plan to do the SRV, and save $8.5m in operational efficiencies and we also had the admin building and depot rationalisation – with the Prince Street office about to open, all that has been achieved.

“I see to a point that my job is done, and for the organisation it’s time for a changing of the guard.”

So why come back?

“Cr Kingsley asked me that exact question, and I told him that I wanted to ride with him in the lift to open the new building,” Mr Lindsay said. “That project completes our rationalisation, and we’re on target to get out Victoria Street by September 12 and customer service should be operational on September 6.”

Mr Lindsay paused when asked if he had any thoughts, or any advice he had from his experience, and said that listening to your body was the most important thing.

“When I was in hospital, I had the same feeling I had before, but it only lasted about 10 seconds, and when I think back, I realise I’ve had that same feeling and it just went away,” he said.

“I didn’t have any pain when my heart was in VT, and I just felt dizzy and off.

“I’m lucky, I made the right choice to go to hospital. If I’d just gone home and lie down, that would’ve been it. Gone.”

Clarence Valley Council general manager Ashley Lindsay is back at work after a heart scare.