AMBULANCE STORY ~ WHERE DO YOU LIVE, LOVE, I CANNOT FIND YOUR HOME?

During my ambulance days I often drove a 'Pope Mobile'. This vehicle was ideal for the job of ferrying patients to and from hospital for kidney dialysis, particularly if they were seated in a wheelchair.  All my patients got to know me well and some of them had a sharp sense of humour to match mine.  I used to take my bit of double glazing Georgian Bar with me, since I am an agent for a local window company.  I sometimes held it up to them as they were entering the Pope Mobile, saying "Bless you, my son/daughter".  It always got a laugh and brightened their day a little.  

It was a cold dark night in the middle of winter.  I was meeting an elderly lady patient for the first time so I was serious and I certainly did not use my little cross on that particular night.  She was frail and in a wheelchair and had just completed her dialysis ~ she had just started with dialysis and was nervous and had recently moved from her own home into a nursing home, always a sad occasion for them.  Sometimes a patient's blood pressure drops after dialysis and that causes them to feel unwell, so she was feeling a little like that and I was trying to get her home and into the warmth as quickly as possible.  I knew the nursing home was nearby but it was brand new and I did not know exactly where it was located, apart from the general area.  The whole complex was newly built and not on any map, and certainly not on my SatNav. 

We approached where I thought it might be and I asked her if she recognised where it was and which way to go.  She said, "We are going in the wrong direction I think, if we turn round and travel the other way I might recognise where we are".   I turned round and we journeyed the other way and she said, "It's too dark and I can't see properly."  Stress was beginning to rear its ugly head and I saw a group of youths by some shops so I parked the vehicle and asked them if they knew where it was, but got the response, "Don't know, gov, try the cop shop up the road!"  I was taking a bit of a chance walking over to them because this area is the roughest in Bristol and people are mugged there quite frequently.  There were six of them and I would not have stood a chance.

I reached the police station and explained the situation and the policeman was quite concerned I had ventured out alone to see that group of 'yobbos', as he described them, saying they had loads of problems with their behaviour. I guess I must have been lucky that night.  He said he knew exactly where the nursing home was and said, "I'll take you, I'll hop into the police car and follow me".  I did, we got there and I thanked him and shook his hand.  I thought that was very decent of him.  It was very near where we had been looking but was hidden behind some wrought iron gates.  I got the lady inside and out of the cold and handed her over to her carer, feeling very relieved she was home safely and without incident.

We have had several instances of not knowing where to deliver patients ~ perhaps I shall tell you some of those stories soon.

RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS ADVENTURE 2015 WEEK 2

Welcome to the second RUK week, hosted by our own lovely Betsy at My Five Men.  The idea of Random Acts Of Kindness is to spread a little love to anyone by treating them to a gift or a service ~ Betsy suggests several ideas HERE.  Last week was very successful with an encouraging number of friends participating, showing kindnesses in a variety of ways.  At the foot of Betsy's post we are invited to link back to our own RAK post so we can read participating friends' posts, HERE.

This week I was fortunate to help two people, both during the course of my voluntary Dial-a-Ride driving, or relating to it.

The first RAK concerned an elderly lady who I took to a doctor's surgery.  She was a little late coming out from her appointment and I was getting a rather concerned the delay might mean my late arrival at a Nursing Home to pick up two people, a lady and a gent, both visiting their respective spouses.  As it turned out the lady emerged from her appointment and I helped her into the bus, explaining I would be picking up two more passengers on the way.  She held her chemist prescription and was rather concerned that she would not be able to get it to a chemist.  I said I would deliver it to a pharmacy on the way after we collected the others and to ask for it to be delivered to her.  I picked up the other passengers and then reached the chemist, leaving all three in the bus.  A very nice lady pharmacist said she could make up the prescription in just two minutes and was surprised I could remember the lady's address.  Anyway I managed to give the lady her prescription and got them all home.

My second RAK centred on a ladies hairdresser salon in town.  I had got to know two very nice ladies who owned the salon, Lizzie and Nickie. Every week I took an 85 year old lady to the salon and over the weeks and months I got to know them and we are good friends.  This week I explained about RAKs and asked how much they charged for a lady's shampoo and set and they said around £20 so I said I would like to donate that amount anonymously to pay for someone they might have in mind deserving a free hair appointment. Lizzie in particular had tears in her eyes and said she knew the exact person who could use this gesture. The lady she had in mind had drawn the short straw all through her life and in fact had a dreadful time in terms of nearly all aspects of her life and her daughter had tried to take her own life a while ago.  I was very touched when she was telling me this.

I called in the other day with baby Peter, as I do sometimes when they are not busy.  Lizzie explained that the lady was totally gob-smacked saying she could not believe anyone would do something like that for her in this day and age and it had caused her to restore her faith that there was at least some good still in this world.  Lizzie, in fact broke down crying and put her hand on my shoulder saying, "God will repay you when you get to Heaven, Ed".  I then learned that she is a believer, which gladdened my heart.

I am almost ashamed to say I did get an inner glow that I had helped someone, albeit in a small way.