Emergency

Yesterday I was leaving a local store, and heard a sound of something heavy hitting the ground and a cry of pain. I looked up and saw an elderly gentleman prone on the ground. Apparently he had tripped over the parking cub.

I ran up to him and saw his hand to his forehead, which was bleeding profusely. His wife reached his side, and I asked her if she had some tissues in the car, which I had to repeat several times.

Finally she understood, and I ran to her car and grabbed the tissues and directed her to press them to his head, and then she asked for ice, which I think she had to ask ME for several times as well.

I rushed into store and asked a clerk in the entry, and said quickly what had happened and she grabbed a bag of ice and handed it to me and I ran back out.

The the wife said she needed a wet cloth, so I ransacked my laundry ( I was enroute to the laundramat) for a clean washcloth and grabbed a jug of water out of the car. I poured the water on the cloth and handed to her and said she might not need the ice since the water was freezing after being in the car all night. I told her not to dab (she kept dabbing) and to apply pressure but her husband gasped at the cold cloth and she switched back to the tissues.


About this time another bystander was using a cell phone to call 911, relaying info and again said to apply pressure and asked the man's age (82).

I saw the man groping his bloody hand and saw a baseball-type hat with various pins about veterans on it, and a semi-crumpled instant lottery ticket. Not knowing which he was reaching for, I pushed both close to him.

The 911 caller was asking for blankets-I said I had none and took my coat off and covered him. Then the wife said she might have something in her trunk, and I found a pillow and change of mens's clothes there, including a canvas coat and scarf, which I brought back with the pillow which we put under his head and I covered his shoulders with the coat and told her to put the scarf on his head.

There was also a roll of paper towels which I tore some off and handed to her.

Someone provided two blankets; I reclaimed my coat and tried to tuck the blankets around him as best I could. We had a hard frost the night before and it was about 40 F out.

At this point a small crowd was gathering and I thought the best thing for me to do was to leave, since the man was conscious and I started to feel like I wouldn't want someone standing there staring at me waiting for the ambulance.

I went down the road to the laundramat and a workman there had apparently seen me since he asked if the ambulance had arrived yet.

A few minutes later the ambulance went by headed towards the store.

Once the clothes were in the dryer I went back to the store and the only thing left at the scene was some ice against the building , and my jug of water. Except when I got out of the car, I noticed blood drying where the gentleman had lain, so I emptied the jug on the spot and watched two rivers of water tinged in blood snake away under my car.