My good deed of the day!

[Lamont D]

Returning from my counselling, and it is a good fifteen minutes walk.
The session was very stressful and my mind set was not prepared for the situation I found myself just around the corner from my house. I was ill prepared, had deep personal thoughts and feelings and to top it my anxiety was at its highest since before counselling. I have a list of issues that are again concerning and worrisome, which were dissected and discussed. I had a headache, shaking because of essential tremor disorder and really tired.
My eyes were looking down as the sun was bright and I wasn't concentrating on what was going on around me.
I noticed a man sitting on the pavement, with his back against the wall. His head was down, chin resting on his chest, a cap was covering his face, as I was on the opposite pavement, I was looking at him to see anything obvious wrong, his breathing was shallow as if he was asleep. Which my assumption was clear that he had been drinking or something else, I went over to try and see if i could help. I shook him and put my hand on his chest to see if he was breathing, spoke to him, he wasn't responding, he was clearly out of it.
I was trying to think quickly what I could and should do, so I got on my phone to ring for an ambulance! I got through and all the questions that followed. While I was doing this, a woman who was driving stopped and with a quick chat with, did manage to rouse him for a few seconds, and she asked him if he had a medical condition. He nodded. She asked him if he was epileptic, he nodded again, meanwhile I was asked more questions than told it maybe more than a couple of hours for an ambulance to get there, but I told them it looked really serious, but it didn't make and difference, I spoke to the woman about it and she volunteered to take him to the nearby hospital. There were other drivers and pedestrians passing but it wasn't necessary for them to hold traffic up or have more people intervene unless they were medically trained, my thoughts were my first aid and the woman's initial response was more than enough.
Between us, we attempted to get him upright, we were sure he hadn't had a serious fall, because just before we were going to help him up, he came a bit aware of his surroundings, he told us his name but was still very confused, he did confirme he had epilepsy. So we got him on his feet looking for signs of injury and we eased him a couple of steps into the back seat of her car. I thanked them for their help as they drove away.
These things happen, but why is it always when you really don't want them to happen. Right time, right place, wrong state of mind but capable of reacting to an emergency which you come upon!
What a weird life I lead!
I'm going for a lie down now. Feelings are all over the place. Anxiety has me asking myself, did I do things right? Who is he? Why was he sitting there? And so on!

 

[Hopeful34]

I'm going for a lie down now. Feelings are all over the place. Anxiety has me asking myself, did I do things right? Who is he? Why was he sitting there? And so on!

You definitely did the right thing in my opinion by stopping to see if the man was ok, ringing for an ambulance, and helping the kind lady get the man into the car. You'll never know who he was, but the poor guy might still be there now if you hadn't helped him. Well done for not just walking past, as others might have done.

 

[Antje77]

Well done, thank you for helping!

 

[Rachox]

You definitely did the right thing. If I ever ended up collapsed in the street I would hope that someone would stop and check on me. A bit of down time relaxing at home is what’s required now for you. Take care

 

[Lamont D]

You definitely did the right thing. If I ever ended up collapsed in the street I would hope that someone would stop and check on me. A bit of down time relaxing at home is what’s required now for you. Take care

I'm definitely in relax mode.
I agree, if I conked out somewhere, I would want the same.

Take care.

 

[Outlier]

Despite feeling so awful, you got involved and did absolutely the right thing. You probably saved his life. And the woman taking him to hospital in her own car is another unsung hero. At least we can sing for you! Be proud.

 

[Annb]

@Lamont D, you did absolutely the right thing. People very often assume that a person in that situation is drunk and deserve to be incapacitated. They may also be a little fearful that a drunk person may be violent if disturbed. But, as you discovered, the person you helped wasn't drunk and needed a good samaritan to offer assistance. So well done you.

Some years ago a friend (who was a doctor from another area) and I were driving home when I saw an elderly man fall and I actually saw how his head bounced off the pavement. Alarming. So we got out of the car to check on him. He seemed very confused and unable to get himself up so my friend called an ambulance. A young woman came to help but she was so distressed that she burst into tears and I had to take time out of the situation to calm her down while my friend checked out the patient.

When the ambulance arrived my friend asked me not to say he was a doctor unless absolutely necessary for some reason (out of his own area apparently). The ambulance crew were unwilling to take the man to hospital and thought he was just drunk but I insisted (with the support of the non-doctor) that he had hit his head really hard and drunk or otherwise, he could have done some damage. Then 2 police officers arrived on the scene and agreed that he should, probably, be checked out so they reluctantly got him (by this time incoherent and struggling) into the ambulance.

We heard later that he had been a sailor off of a fishing boat, was a non-English speaker and had been very drunk (although I couldn't smell alcohol from him). He hadn't done himself any harm but I still think he needed to be checked out and would do the same again. I was actually very annoyed at the ambulance crew. Others (not my doctor friend) thought I should have left well alone.

On another occasion I saw another, obviously drunk, elderly man turned away by a hospital receptionist at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. It was New Year and very icy and he complained that he had fallen and hit his head - he even showed them the blood oozing from the wound, but they just told hem to go away and sober up! I was younger then and less assertive so when I protested, they just ignored me and got someone to put him out of the hospital. It is my belief that anyone who has hit their head, or seems to have collapsed, requires to be checked out.

 

[NicoleC1971]

Returning from my counselling, and it is a good fifteen minutes walk.
The session was very stressful and my mind set was not prepared for the situation I found myself just around the corner from my house. I was ill prepared, had deep personal thoughts and feelings and to top it my anxiety was at its highest since before counselling. I have a list of issues that are again concerning and worrisome, which were dissected and discussed. I had a headache, shaking because of essential tremor disorder and really tired.
My eyes were looking down as the sun was bright and I wasn't concentrating on what was going on around me.
I noticed a man sitting on the pavement, with his back against the wall. His head was down, chin resting on his chest, a cap was covering his face, as I was on the opposite pavement, I was looking at him to see anything obvious wrong, his breathing was shallow as if he was asleep. Which my assumption was clear that he had been drinking or something else, I went over to try and see if i could help. I shook him and put my hand on his chest to see if he was breathing, spoke to him, he wasn't responding, he was clearly out of it.
I was trying to think quickly what I could and should do, so I got on my phone to ring for an ambulance! I got through and all the questions that followed. While I was doing this, a woman who was driving stopped and with a quick chat with, did manage to rouse him for a few seconds, and she asked him if he had a medical condition. He nodded. She asked him if he was epileptic, he nodded again, meanwhile I was asked more questions than told it maybe more than a couple of hours for an ambulance to get there, but I told them it looked really serious, but it didn't make and difference, I spoke to the woman about it and she volunteered to take him to the nearby hospital. There were other drivers and pedestrians passing but it wasn't necessary for them to hold traffic up or have more people intervene unless they were medically trained, my thoughts were my first aid and the woman's initial response was more than enough.
Between us, we attempted to get him upright, we were sure he hadn't had a serious fall, because just before we were going to help him up, he came a bit aware of his surroundings, he told us his name but was still very confused, he did confirme he had epilepsy. So we got him on his feet looking for signs of injury and we eased him a couple of steps into the back seat of her car. I thanked them for their help as they drove away.
These things happen, but why is it always when you really don't want them to happen. Right time, right place, wrong state of mind but capable of reacting to an emergency which you come upon!
What a weird life I lead!
I'm going for a lie down now. Feelings are all over the place. Anxiety has me asking myself, did I do things right? Who is he? Why was he sitting there? And so on!

Thank you. My daughter has had 3 fits (unexplained to date) in the street and on each occasion a stranger has stopped to help her, call an ambulance or us and I am grateful that people like you are out there.