Helping in an Emergency


Helping in an Emergency

The woman trapped in the car was fine, besides being upside down. There were already some people on the scene, and an EMT showed up a few minutes after me. He did a good thorough assessment and left me to talk to the woman. The whole time, the thing that worried her the most was the well-being of her little dog in the back seat. She was worried he needed to be walked, since he'd been in the car for three hours. I could see him peeking his head through the window behind the driver seat, so I coaxed him out and walked him down the side of the highway. He did indeed need to relieve himself.

I spent the next half hour holding her dog to keep him warm while the firefighters cut her out of the car. A physician has arrived and asked whether the woman wanted to let anyone know where she was. The woman asked the doctor to call her mother, which she did. The conversation I overheard was very well handled by the doctor, who was able to put both mother and daughter at ease. I was impressed by the physicians forethought in asking if she should call somebody.

The firefighters eventually got the woman out of her car and asked us to leave to clear traffic. One of them took the dog from me. I went home, feeling uncertain if I had been able to do anything useful. It was a little funny that a dog-walking professional arrived at a time when such services were vitally required.

I was really inspired by the whole incident. Thankfully, the woman was unhurt, but it was so great to see how many people had stopped to help. People kept stopping. I knew something about emergency response, so I had decided there might be some little thing I could do. The EMT of course was the specialist. The doctor I assume stops whenever it looks like there is an accident just in case there is something she can do. Others were also stopped to see if they could help in some way.

I often worry that the area I live in is very impersonal and un-neighborly compared to city neighborhoods in Chicago or New York, or small towns. I guess most of us just keep to ourselves, but when we think someone might need us, there doesn't seem to be any shortage of people willing to help in an emergency.

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