Life can change in the matter of just a heartbeat. So I learned last week.

During a routine workday, I became a bit light headed. God had me in the right place at the right time. How fortunate that Auburn Memorial Hospital was there when my own emergency medical need arose. Caring people emerged from all over the hospital #- Day surgery, ER, ICU, the hospitalist group, OR, recovery room.

Everyone wants competent care. I found not just competency, but also compassion. It seems a little ironic, but sometimes a surgeon needs a surgeon. How good it was to know that Dr. Matthew Zadrowski was the skilled surgeon there to implant a pacemaker for a lagging heart beat.

Some would say the great care I found was there because I am a physician. While I have no means to measure something like this, I do know that I daily see the AMH physicians and nurses rendering up-to-date therapies with hometown caring. The people you meet at the hospital are the same people you see at your children's school events, your churches, at the grocery store. How comforting to be in a facility where you are treated as a friend and neighbor, not as a number.

As residents of Auburn and the surrounding area, we are so blessed to have this hospital in our community. I hesitate to think what would have happened to me when I needed immediate cardiac care.

Where would we be if AMH had not emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy? I understand now, particularly having been a patient at AMH, that we need to unfailingly support our local hospital. Local physicians need to refer to specialists at AMH.

We have a strong medical staff with several new physicians joining the hospital this fall. Much care can certainly be provided right here in Auburn. Patients need to choose to stay in Auburn for all care that can be given here. If we all don't support our local hospital, it will not be there when we really need it. As I found out, you could need it in a hurry with no advance warning.

There are many exciting things going on at the AMH. Take a walk through the hospital and see the improvements in the Emergency Room's front desk area. Also, many inpatient rooms are being converted to private patient rooms with individual bathrooms. The OR renovation project will provide state-of-the-art surgical facilities. The OB unit is being updated, and a new psychiatric inpatient unit is being built.

It is not just the physical plant that is getting a face lift. Quality is a number one priority for nurses, doctors and administration. Our new Chief Medical Officer Dr. James Blute has the quality services of AMH at the top of his job list. Many new faces grace our hallways in every department, and new physician practices are being established (OB/GYN, ENT, plastic surgery), while other departments are expanding and upgrading services.

However you are called on to help AMH - as a referring physician, as a patient with a choice as to where you will receive care, as a community member asked to support fundraising activities #- please support our local hospital. It is sure good to know it is there when you need it. And I can now tell you that from personal experience on the other side of bed.

Dr. Deborah Geer is a general surgeon with a special interest in breast surgery. Reach her at 253-4536