“You don’t look very good,” Paul Martineau’s friend said after a team golf tournament on the World Bank course in Bretton Woods, Germantown.
Paul went into the clubhouse to escape the blazing sun, and 100-degree heat, concerned about severe dehydration. What he learned about his health on that Friday in July 2025 changed his life forever.
Paul, a husband, father and avid golfer, made an effort to live an active lifestyle. He had been diagnosed with Type II diabetes in 2022, which required yearly checkups with a cardiologist, Paul always left the doctors with a clean bill of health, feeling good about how he was managing his disease.
That’s why what happened after his summer round of golf came as such a surprise. His friend called an ambulance, thinking Paul was suffering from a heat stroke. After two abnormal electrocardiograms, emergency responders rushed Paul to Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center’s emergency room. Within an hour of arriving at the hospital, Paul recalls, he was transferred to the cardiac care team with “100% blockage on the right side and 90% blockage on the left side” of his heart. Paul says he “had no fear but exasperation that my previous medical providers did not identify the potential for a problem.”
Interventional cardiologist Aloke Finn, MD, placed a stent to open the blockage in Paul’s left artery. While the right artery was found to be small and twisted, Dr. Finn determined it was not causing any harm to his heart. After the procedure Paul then settled into the intensive care unit to recover while waiting for his wife to arrive. Reflecting on the experience, Paul shared that the team members were “amazingly fast, and the care was exceptional.”
He will never forget his ICU nurse Jules Lawal, RN who went downstairs to help Paul’s frightened wife park her car and find her way to his room. “Kudos to the HR department,” he says, “because how did they find such friendly, caring, and outgoing people?”
As someone who has worked for more than 40 years in customer-centric industries, from food retailers to lifecare services for people with disabilities, he said he immediately recognized the quality of the service he received. He understood how essential it was to be heard, taken seriously, and provided with exceptional care, no matter the circumstances. He said the Shady Grove care team checked all those boxes.
Paul also valued how both his input and his wife’s involvement were treated as necessary parts of his healing. “Every staff member and medical professional took the time to listen to me and my wife before they acted. I felt that my participation was wanted and necessary,” he shared.
Now diagnosed with both coronary artery disease (CAD) and Type II diabetes, Paul said his lifestyle “continues to proceed as before, but I am much more aware of what foods and drinks enter my mouth. Nutrition and moderation have become my catchwords.” You can still find Paul golfing, walking his two playful golden doodles and enjoying his wife’s delicious cooking in moderation.
His gratitude for the care he received at Shady Grove Medical Center runs deep.
“From the lady at the front desk to the nurses in the operating room, every single person was extraordinary,” said Paul.
