It is Kaylene Evans’ worst fear that her husband George could pass away without her there to comfort him.
But it’s a frightening concern that Mrs Evans faces regularly when she struggles to find parking at Nepean Hospital.
Mr Evans has suffered from heart disease since 1995 and his health has deteriorated in recent years, which has resulted in frequent visits to the local hospital.
Just last week, Mrs Evans took her husband to the emergency department, but she had to drop him off and then look for somewhere to park the car.
He was hospitalised for several days due to bleeding on the brain.
“It really annoys me to think he is sitting in emergency while I’m trying to find a park,” Mrs Evans said.
But last week wasn’t just an isolated incident.
“About six months ago George had chest pain and I had to leave him sitting there in emergency. I parked the car in some side street and then had to walk 20 minutes to get back to the hospital,” she said.
“What if he happened to have a really bad attack while I was parking the car?”
Mrs Evans, who has a disability parking permit for her husband, said while she was allowed to park in disabled parking spaces, it was difficult to find them since hospital upgrades started to take place.
“There is actually less disabled parking available now with all the construction going on,” she said.
“I’ve counted eight disabled parking spaces that have now been taken up by construction sites. It would be interesting to know where they have been relocated too.”
Mrs Evans has volunteered to speak at the Sydney Alliance Transport Forum in Penrith on November 17.
“I’ve been going up regularly to Nepean Hospital since 2000. I’ve watched the parking go from fairly reasonable to absolutely terrible,” Mrs Evans said.
“I used to be able to park on Derby Street almost right at the entrance, but those were the good old days.”
Nepean Hospital has been contacted for comment.
