I've lost count of how many of these morning blogs I have posted. I should probably look at the post count next time I go to write one. After all, there only so many question marks I can use to replace numbers. I'm listening to the Loreena McKennitt radio station on Spotify. It's made pleasant background music for me as I have been writing in my journal. My day so far has started to fall back into a rhythm of a pattern of work and rest similar to what I had when I was writing more profusely. I am optimistic that this will continue.
I'm still working on trying to make sure that I get my light therapy in the morning. It has been a point of contention over the last few days with my sons who want to just go and play in the kitchen as I am doing so or want the overhead light on as they get ready for school. The light therapy lamp provides a significant amount of light and where I am using it, it is sufficient for them to get ready for school by its light. They just don't like it.
Well, that was just a confusing incident. A person drove by at highway speed with someone else leaning out of the window ... Actually, it was someone damn near standing out the door whilst in the moving car with a pair of binoculars as they were looking upward. I haven't the slightest idea what was going on with that, but it clearly is something that'd be against OSHA regulations. Sometimes people around here, in the course of doing their jobs, do some really dumb things that are more than a little bit hazardous in an effort to get things done faster.
I try not to think about it. It makes me anxious. The idea of someone falling out of a moving vehicle and requiring first aid troubles me. I know that my first aid certification is not up to date and I'm not obligated to provide it. At the same time, I know that I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I witnessed something like that and did nothing to help the foolish victim. I just have this strong compulsion to help people who are in trouble. The fact that I remember most of my first aid training enables me to help to some extent in an emergency. At the same time, I worry that if I do attempt to help and something goes sideways, I will find myself in a position where I'm getting sued for it. The Good Samaritian laws in NYS generally protect people who stop to help in accidents. I still worry about it though.
I guess it was about fourteen years ago I witnessed a roll over accident. At the time, my first aid certification was current because I was working at a daycare that required it (and paid for us to keep our training up to date). The truck ahead of me was pulling a camper. They were going about 65 miles per hour. As we were coming to a turn in the highway, the camper began to fishtail. I immediately slowed down and put on my hazards. The camper whipped back and forth hard three times and then rolled into the embankment on the side away from oncoming traffic. I think that right there was a small mercy because this was in the middle of rush hour traffic. As the camper rolled, it dragged the pickup truck into the roll as well.
As this was happening, I pulled off to the side of the road about ten yards behind the vehicle. I grabbed the first aid kit that I had in the back of my car and ran up to the scene. People were crawling out of the camper and the truck. I asked if there was anyone else inside and they answer was no. I then began checking people for injuries. One of them, a young woman close to my age, had a cut on her arm. I popped open my first aid kit and cleaned it up before bandaging it. As I did so, the police and the ambulance arrived. The emergency technicians stood back and watched me bandage her injury and commented that it was a textbook perfect job. I was too focused on instructing her to keep her arm raised up above the level of her heart to acknowledge what was said.
As I gave my report to the police regarding what I witnessed of the accident, they asked me if I was a volunteer emergency services person, like a fire fighter or something. I answered that I just was a teacher with a first aid kit and some knowledge. When ever there's been an emergency that I was involved in, my first response is to assess the situation and determine the best way I could help. I usually find myself fully prepared to do potentially dangerous things as the situation demands, realizing after the fact the risk that I was undertaking. Like when that vehicle rolled over, I was ready to crawl into the wreckage and provide first aid to anyone who was trapped if I couldn't help them out. To say the least, I was glad that I didn't have to do that, but as I ran up, I was assessing entry points and smelling for gas leaking.
I told this story to my children a few days ago. They stared at me with wonder and awe. They asked me if I was afraid. I explained that I was too focused on doing what I felt was my job (helping these people) to be afraid. The after effect of OMG WHAT IF I WAS CAUGHT IN THAT MESS?!?! hit me when I was driving home. Even then, I didn't regret pulling over and helping. Now my eldest child wants to be a fire fighter. He's got that drive to help people a lot like I do. He has been reading books about first aid and trying to memorize them. When he gets a little older, I'm going to sign him up for the Red Cross's baby sitting certification course, if they still have that program running.
This way he gets to learn the proper technique for how to perform first aid and how to assess the situation. Right now, he tends to rush into a situation before checking if it is safe first. He's gotten a few scrapes and bruises helping his brother out after some bike accidents. Nothing serious has happened, but he's always right there to get ice for bruises and provide bandaids for scrapes. So, we'll see where this goes.
No comments:
Post a Comment