Show of Hands

Once, long ago. Sometime between 1980 and 1985. On a quiet street in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the second day in a row, a young guy on his porch taunted a couple teenage girls walking in the street, among kids of all ages on their way home from school. The first day, nothing bad happened.

The second day, things escalated. There was a lot of shouting and some shoving, and another young man, who happened to be a school bus driver (if I remember right), tried to defuse the situation.

I was sitting on my porch down the block and decided it might be time to call 911. As I brought the phone out on the porch (remember land lines?) and called, the instigator went in his house, came out with a gun, and shot the young man who had been trying to calm him down. He was dead.

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Yes, and they talked me through starting CPR with my husband. Thank goodness it took only 4 minutes for the ambulance to arrive or he wouldn't have survived.

Thank you! It was touch and go for about five days. But, he is doing great now. I'm thankful!

Witnessed two fairly bad car crashes up close, called then. Only times I’ve personally called in an emergency

No. As a youth, I only dialed the operator once when my Grandparents’ house was smoking from an antique entertainment cabinet.

I’m so happy that he survived and that you were there.

I called after hearing a terrible crash. I looked out of my office window to see two mangled cars and nobody getting out of either.

Wow. That’s terrible.

It was, but Kay’s story below is more harrowing - at least it has a good outcome!

After that incident, he folks on my street started having regular meetings, so see if there were things we could do to help prevent stuff like that in the future. There was already an active neighborhood organization, and they helped. Police outreach people came & talked with us. (And by the way, the police did show up fast during that incident - but they were still too late.) We all got to know each other better, we watched out for each other, and it was a better place for that effort.

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❤

❤️😊

Yes, a few times

One client had a stroke and one client was very sick and couldn’t stand, was confused and elderly. She had a cold and a bladder infection. She was on IV antibiotics then had rehabilitation therapy for a couple weeks. Bladder infections in the elderly can be serious.

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Several times for my mother

Only once. When I was 10-11 years old and my parents were out of town. We were left with a babysitter. An electrical fire started in my brothers' bedroom. They got out. I called the operator and got the fire department on the way.

Yes, several times actually.

Yep. I've called it on cars in a predicament a few times (each time, someone else had called earlier). I also called it once in a situation where I got forwarded to poison control. Thankfully everything turned out fine. There was also a domestic violence situation in my apartment once. I didn't call 911, but I called the emergency RA number and they notified security and police.

I've also been a first-to-the-scene individual in several cases where someone else called 911 and I was there before emergency services arrived. There's a reason I keep a kit ready to go at all times.

Yes.

Countless times, most involving asshole neighbors.