A little more excitement than I'd like...

[lagilman]

Came home from the gym and farmer's market (OMG it's Killer Basil!) to see a gentleman of perhaps 55 or so laying on his side on the sidewalk. Now, there are possible reasons for that -- he was checking the slant of the porch of his house, or trying an esoteric new exercise -- but something triggered my 'person in distress' reaction, which is, as someone pointed out a few months ago, to run into a burning building*. Or, in this case, do an emergency parking job and grab my med kit.

Sure enough, he had fallen and was unable to get up (no jokes, please). He was coherent, but there was a nasty bump and a lot of blood on his forehead, his glasses were cracked, and his knees were banged up, and though he insisted that he had to get up, he couldn't actually sit up, even with help. So I made him lay back down and cursed because I'd left my cell phone int the car when I pulled over to help. Thankfully, neighbors out for a stroll came by and had their cell with them, so we called 911.

Our guy didn't want us to call for help, he kept asking if his face was very bad and saying he had to go home, his mother was home and she was 85, and just being slightly verbally 'off.' And I'm thinking "damn, he's not (only) concussed, I think he's not entirely with us," either from the accident or preexisting conditions. So I invoked the Wrath of Dad, telling him that if I let him get up, my dad was going to be SO pissed at me, so could he just stay still a little longer? I got his glasses back on his face (I know everything's worse when you can't see) and the man with the cell phone helped him roll over a little so he was more comfortable on the sidewalk, and we waited for the paramedics, who came in a big white emergency vehicle, all five of them, big guys full of calm good humor and strong backs.

I was very very happy to let the professionals take over, hoo yah. They got the insurance -- and the latex gloves and wipes to deal with the blood.

Hell of a way to meet people.

(and even the paramedics commented on the Killer Basil. I may have guys showing up tomorrow for pesto...)



* apparently, no, I don't have any instinct for self-preservation in emergency situations. need to work on that....

Comments

[kradical.livejournal.com]

Well done, you!

[lagilman]

well, I hope so. There's a post-incident tendency to second-guess your actions -- should I have forced him to stay on his back, to prevent further damage, and caused him extreme emotional distress? Or was letting him try to get up the right thing? When you add the probable mental handicap into the equation, your reactions have to change, but how was never covered in training...

[girasole.livejournal.com]

Well done.
And I genuinely love the words d'journal in the sidebar here. Brava.

[onyxhawke.livejournal.com]

Good for you. It's relieving to know that there are people left in the world who aren't so self absorbed they still notice other people.

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

Good for you!

[debg.livejournal.com]

AttaVirgo!

Seriously, you did brilliantly. No point in second-guessing yourself; you saw a problem and you dealt with it, using both sides of the brain. No way you could have done better without a magic wand.

[windrose.livejournal.com]

You done good. *hugs*

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Meerkats! For your garden!

http://www.coopersofstortford.co.uk/kates_choice.php

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I think you did the right thing. Good on ya!

[jmward14.livejournal.com]

You did all the right things. You really do have to help some people do what they want (but can't) before you can call in the professionals. They freak if you deny them. My 90-year-old mother is the same way.
Cheers and bravas,
Jean Marie

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

Go you! That's a fine thing you did, indeed. Hope he's all right.

[christymarx.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I'm the same way. My instinct seems to be to run toward trouble rather than away. D'oh!

[allaboutm-e.livejournal.com]

Too much excitement indeed, but glad your instincts were on target and that there was a relatively happy outcome.

[lagilman]

Thanks. it's something I said in comments to another writer (Di Francis) and it seemed it might be a useful reminder to myself, too.

[lagilman]

I think that most everyone notices... but they're frozen by not knowing what they should do, or being worried about making things worse, or just worried, period. The Good Samaritan law only goes so far, and for most folk, self-preservation trumps other-preservation.

(don't worry, my natural cynicism about the human race will resurface shortly)

[onyxhawke.livejournal.com]

Maybe your cynicism is off visiting my good sense?

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

You are sooo good. I would have dithered ("Should I or shouldn't I?")and then dithered some more until someone like you swooped in to do what I was dithering about.

[lagilman]

I've also had some basic emergency training, so there's less to dither about.

I do highly recomend what my old boss called 'emergency ofice procedures' training for anyone -- basic CPR and the checklist of "do/don't do" (DO talk to them. DON'T touch anything blody without gloves, etc) that can put you out of dither and into automatic reaction mode.

(I still carry around my mouth-mask for CPR...I think I'm going to add a pair of latex gloves to the kit as well)

[lagilman]

it's a wonder we survived to be semi-cautious adults....

(actually, this instinct is od, but the action is a relatively new thing... I was always ready to help but not an instigator, until 9/11, when not being able to do ANYTHING near drove me mad. That's when I got my basic training, just so if there was ever a chance, I could do something.

It's also why I give blood.)

[christymarx.livejournal.com]

I'd like to give blood, but my blood pressure is so friggin' low they tend to turn me away.