The Pearl River Co. Hospital’s emergency room, in existence only for about three weeks, might have already saved a life.

Lori Stanford, who lives here, said that a severe allergic reaction to food she had eaten completely shut off her windpipe, or trachea,  and she could not breath.

The incident happened on Saturday night, and she said she had only minutes to reach a hospital.

“We would have never made it to Hattiesburg or Picayune,” said Lori. “I have no doubt that had not the emergency room here been open, I would not be here today. It was that bad.”

She said the type of allergic reaction she had “runs in our family” and is very severe if and when it happens. She said it can occur when she is taking an antibiotic, which she was at the time.

  “I was just not careful enough monitoring what I was eating. But I assure you, after this, that I will be more careful in the future. I almost died,” she added.

“I immediately broke out into a rash, and began itching, and then my throat began to close up on me and I could not breath,” she said.

“I called mother, and she came over, and by the time I was at the end of the driveway, I thought I was gone. Mother thought about stopping at the fire station, but I urged her to go on to the Poplarville emergency room,” said Lori.

She said she knew the emergency room was open because friends and relatives had told her about it, and, “I sit with some elderly folks at the nursing home, so I knew it was open.”

She said she received excellent care, that everything was high-tech at the Poplarville ER.

“They called a specialist in Jackson to help and he watched the entire procedures over television monitors. I could see him and he could see me. It was amazing,” she said. “They held me for about six hours and then released me. So far, everything has been okay. I am getting better and better everyday now.”

Lori’s parents are Meryl and Garland Stanford, and her sisters are Jodi Hatten and Dawn Stanford.

Said her sister, Jodi, “I am so grateful and thankful that we have that ER facility now here in Poplarville. My family is convinced that Lori would not have made it to Picayune or Hattiesburg with that reaction being so severe.”

Hattiesburg and Picayune hospitals were the nearest ERs to Poplarville before the Pearl River Co. Hospital opened its new ER about three weeks ago. Poplarville is in between the two cities, and it takes about 30 minutes to get from Poplarville to either Picayune or Hattiesburg.

Lori said the reaction was so strong that she is still having symptoms that appeared with it, even after almost a week later.

The Pearl River Co. Hospital has been moving with a new administrator to upgrade its services, and recently installed a fully staffed around-the-clock ER and is taking steps to become a “critical access hospital”, which will produce a revenue stream increase.

The hospital serves mainly the big northern section of Pearl River Co. and is partially supported by a four-mill tax levy paid by residents in what is termed old Beats one, two and three, which lie mainly in the northern portions of Pearl River Co.

Also attached to the hospital is a nursing home, which is considered to be one of the best nursing homes in the state and the Southeastern U.S.

The facility is officially called the Pearl River Co. Medical Complex and Nursing Home and is located at 305 Moody Street.