After lunch on January 4, when Lynette Cullinan wheeled her non-weight-bearing husband Peter into the bathroom, a life-threatening emergency occurred.
The Vietnam veteran's skin graft ruptured and caused his foot to bleed "like a running tap".
WARNING: This story contains graphic images
"The blood was literally pouring out even though he already had dressings, gauze and a compress bandage," Mrs Cullinan said.
She activated the emergency assistance medical Safety Link alarm at their home at Howlong, less than 30 minutes west of Albury on the New South Wales southern border.
"Now, they've told me it can take them up to 18 minutes," she said.
"You heard right — 18 minutes to get through to triple-0, which is ludicrous.
"They contacted triple-0 while I was busy trying to stop my husband's bleeding with more bandages, compresses, compression bandages, ice packs and towels."
She said triple-0 contacted her via Safety Link about half an hour later and told her there was no knowing when an ambulance would arrive.
"I told them, 'This man is bleeding out — I'm going to lose him, I need an ambulance now'," Mrs Cullinan said.
"She goes, 'I'm sorry, I cannot give you a timeline, it could be an hour, it could be two hours'.
Mrs Cullinan, who is also her husband's carer, used her first-aid training to keep him alive.
"I'm busy trying to stop the bleeding, my husband's pulse has gone tacky, he's gone grey, cold sweat, blood pressure is dropping," she said.
"I've had to put him into the coma position, elevate the legs."
Mrs Cullinan knew she would need help, so she posted to Facebook.
Luckily, help arrived — from more than 380 kilometres away.
"My daughter in Canberra saw the post, gave me a quick ring … answered the obvious question, 'Yes, I've rung triple-0,'" Mrs Cullinan said.
"She rang Albury RFS, thank God, Corowa fire brigade, SES paramedics and Howlong RFS.
"Units from everywhere came together and arrived in I guess 45 minutes to an hour after my daughter put the call in.
'It's just not OK'
Mrs Cullinan's daughter, Kat, said she was terrified but calm when she got the social media notification.
"It's scary to not only find out your dad's bleeding out from Facebook, but to also know that your mother has had to go to that extent because she can't get the help she needs," Kat said.
Within one minute of speaking with her mum, Kat rang the local fire brigade.
"I think when you have somebody on the phone going, 'My husband is bleeding out, I need help' and they say it will take upwards of two hours to get there, it's just not OK," Kat said.
Mrs Cullinan said the ambulance arrived close to 2pm.
"The first thing they did was call for backup," she said.
Mr Cullinan was transferred to Albury and then on to Melbourne.
"At which point he has now had four blood transfusions, one iron transfusion, and surgery on this wound to burn and cauterise vessels and veins that had burst," she said.
Mr Cullinan is still in hospital recovering.
"I still see the amount of blood that my husband lost, nearly three litres of blood," Mrs Cullinan said.
"I can't sleep in the bedroom, because I just keep seeing my husband and I just keep thinking, 'What if I didn't have my basic first aid?'"
Mrs Cullinan is pleading for urgent changes to the ambulance system during the pandemic.
"Why did it have to take a Facebook message and a phone call from Canberra to get the help we desperately needed?" she said.
Staff 'surged' due to Omicron wave
A NSW Ambulance spokesperson said the service worked closely with Ambulance Victoria.
"The closest resource is deployed to any patient regardless of which side of the border an ambulance is located," they said.
The spokesperson said, due to increased demand due to the surge in Omicron cases, NSW Ambulance staff "have been surged" and an "extra 50 call takers" have been recruited at control centres.
The ABC understands Ambulance Victoria was dispatched within two minutes of the call being received by the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority.
Ambulance Victoria declined to be interviewed.
