I'm sure those of you who visit the site have seen my Attitudes Are Contagious rant. This is a follow up.
Today Ren wasn't working, so she was going to finish up our Christmas shopping. She went to the mall. Walked in. Went down the escalator.
As she's going down to the lower floor, she noticed a man leaving the Hallmark store, leaning over and clutching a rail. A woman slowly walked out after him. The woman put her hand on his shoulder. He turned toward her, face ashen gray, then fell over unconscious.
Ren rushes over. She assesses that he's unconscious, has a pulse, but is breathing dangerously slow and isn't getting enough oxygen. She stars doing "rescue breathing" (the breathing part of CPR, but without the chest compressions) to ensure he gets enough oxygen and doesn't die.
"Ma'am, does your husband have any health conditions?" Ren asks (for those who don't know, Ren's a registered nurse and a certified EMT).
"Umm... I was just in there shopping, and this guy complained of chest pains, and... umm... umm... umm..."
"Okay. Has anyone called 911?"
"Uhh... I don't think so. Should we do that?"
"Yes. Now would be a good time to call 911," Ren says.
The lady left (back into the store, I think...?) calling 911. Ren continued breathing for the guy and continued monitoring his pulse. The EMT's arrived about ten minutes later. Ren explained her credentials and all but demanded a heart monitor (she's a telemetry nurse). Fortunately, they were kind enough to comply though not obligated to do so. The guy's heart stats were stable, though he still apparently wasn't getting sufficient oxygen. They took him off to the hospital.
Here's the great part -- in the ten minutes it took for the EMT's to arrive, not a single person offered to help. And keep in mind, this is a very busy mall (Fair Oaks, for those in the D.C. area).
No, instead, they either walked past or stood way off to the side pointing. Some even took pictures.
I feel a bit selfish bragging about my own wife, but there's no question that she deserves it (even though she'll kick my butt later on for posting this on the site). She's a wonderful person, she's an awesome nurse, she didn't think twice about helping this guy, and there's no doubt she could have handled the entire situation even with no help.
But come on... NOBODY offered to help?
So... remember my challenges from my earlier post? If not, go back and read it. I'd like to add these additional challenges:
Come on. This is YOUR world. YOUR community. Take care of it.
Hmmm I have a interesting story as such, I am a college student and I utilize public transportation. One day, While on the bus a guy in the back makes a loud “yelp” and hit the floor and starts having a seizure. Luckily we were two block from a hospital, and the bus drives up to it someone runs inside and grabs a doctor and several people run back their to help him. The doctor comes in and when have to move the guy. Turns out he was drinking the whole day (it was 2 pm), and his wife sat there not helping at all (I assume she was drunk too). Now we get him into a aisle, and the EMT’s come in. They bring him out, and everyone has to get off the bus as this is a incident. Several people already gotten off the bus, for whatever reason they had. Now while one lady (who helped the guy) went back to look for her purse noticed it was gone. Since so many people got off and so much was going on nobody knows who took it.
This is story happened Thursday, and if they lady deiced to sit in her seat and let the EMT’s and Doctor handle it. She would have still had her purse. Sometimes you have to look out for your self you never know who it trying to get you.
I have no problem with people looking out for themselves. But not at the cost of someone else who needs help.
I couldn’t really tell from your post whether she was the one who ran to get the help from the hospital or not. I’m assuming so. If so, sitting in her seat and letting the EMT’s handle it wouldn’t have helped if nobody had let the EMT’s know they were needed. Somebody had to get up and tell them.
Here’s the thing — the lady who ran out to get help had no reason to believe that when she came back, her purse would have been gone. Sure, she should have taken it with her, just in case. But there was nothing INHERENT about helping the guy that would have required the sacrifice of her purse.
She did the right thing. Whoever stole her purse did the wrong thing.
You’re right, we need to look out for ourselves. And as you described, thieves are opportunists. Still, like it or not, we’re also part of a larger community. We need to look out for EACH OTHER too.