Jennie Fife, Local Hero?!

I had an experience today I just had to write down. I needed to go to the bank and actually go inside so I bribed Dashiel to be good by promising him McDonald's or Old MacDonald as he calls it, for lunch. Surprisingly Dash behaved great, I didn't have to drag him out of the bank by his hair or give him more than one sucker, so we headed down the road to the MD to play.

When I was getting the boys out of the car at McDonald's I noticed an elderly lady standing over an even more elderly lady who was laying on the ground in the parking lot by her car. I left the boys in the van (still buckled in their car seats) and ran over to see if there was anything I could do to help. The lady on the ground, Ida, had fallen as she was trying to get out of the car by herself, not such a great idea for the 87 year old who uses a cane. The other woman, her friend, was asking her if she was okay and trying to help her sit up. When Ida sat up she started bleeding a lot from the back of her head.

I quickly told her to lay back down and I called 911. The operator got the ambulance on the way and then kept me on the phone asking questions and making sure everything was okay. Some McDonald's workers had come outside and I placed a stack of napkins behind Ida's head to stop the bleeding. Ida was conscience, a good sign, but had started complaining of a pain in her side and asking who I was.

She kept saying "Who is that darling talking? Who are you? Who is talking? She is such a sweetheart. Where is my purse?" All of this time I am holding my nursing blanket up to provide a little shade for her face as the sun was directly in her eyes and stealing glances at my van to check on the boys. A volunteer ambulance worker arrived on the scene first and efficiently bandaged Ida's head, checked her pulse, pressure, side, etc., she was great. The police and ambulance arrived shortly after that and I got out of the way so they could do their job.

I heard that Ida was most likely going to have to get stitches then I went over to the van to finally take the boys inside for lunch. They were so good while I was helping Ida. Dashiel was very excited to see the police car and the ambulance, he wanted to know everything that was going on. We went in for lunch and the manager gave me a discount on our food for helping out which was nice of him. I didn't realize at the time but when I sat down to eat my heart was still racing. I stayed calm and tried to be helpful during the whole situation but it is always a little scary when someone is hurt. So, I wouldn't really call myself a hero, but I am glad that I was willing to help someone who needed it and that I was in the right place at the right time.