A dozen impossible things before breakfast
On my way in to work this morning I noticed several people stepping over a collapsed man in the middle of the pavement, then going on their merry way. Being the sort of person who bucks a trend, I knelt down and asked him if he was OK. He blinked once and no further response, so I made sure he was in the recovery position and an ambulance was duly called.
The crew arrived quickly, were very pleasant, diagnosed a potentially fatal heroin overdose and administered Narcan. They also said "thank you for saving him," which was very sweet of them.
It's very sad when someone is so troubled that they collapse from an overdose in the middle of a busy street. But it's even sadder when so many people step over someone who's possibly dying because they're frightened of getting involved, think a fellow human being is a piece of worthless trash, or are simply so selfish they just can't be bothered.
Anyway, I'm off for a lovely cuppa and will use it to raise a toast to lovely ambulance crews everywhere and everyone else who isn't afraid of getting their hands dirty from time to time. I also fervently hope I never have the misfortune to collapse in public.
Comments
Good for you, Ms P. You did indeed buck the trend. Studies show that if you collapse in the street, you are unlikely to be helped unless you are young, white, female, well dressed and sober.
Your experience reminds me of a really old cartoon which was featured in the 'New Yorker' where the first three frames show a bloke collapsed on the street with passers by looking at him and walking on. In the fourth frame a boy goes up to the collapsed man and says, "Hey Mister, are you OK? Do you need any help?". In the fifth frame the man gets up and says, "Young man, I am a very rich man and I am giving $1m to the first person who comes to ask if I am ok."
Even if this is very far fetched, it sort of illustrates the karma of helping someone - your chap must have done good in a previous life.
I got pushed down the steps at Waterloo and broke my ankle about three years ago. It was rush hour (and I was in a suit and not drunk!), so plenty of people about but no one stopped to ask if I was OK, just walked on by.
A lovely Nigerian cleaner lady helped me up after about 30 minutes and I hobbled to St Thomas' hospital with her help. Thank you for caring London.
I'm not sure if anyone's familiar with Bystander Effect and the Kitty Genovese story - rape-murdered in full view of many onlookers in their homes - but one aspect is of course that some people just don't care enough to break the Bystander Effect. I really struggle when I hear things like this - and especially in my own city. If you're ever in trouble, it's worth remembering that it can be worth asking an individual within a crowd for help - don't call out to the crowd, but single someone out. Hopefully that someone will also care enough then to help.
Not as serious as either of these incidents, but I too was gobsmacked when a woman tripped in front of me at a Pelican crossing and went full length - en route to work and she looked perfectly respectable - and people behind her stepped over her.
I helped her up, picked up her bag and its contents and took her into the caff on the corner for a sit-down and a cuppa. I hope that someone would do that for me and mine in similar circs. Like Oinks, I was horrified that this kind of thing can and does happen where I live.
Thank the gods for Mobile phones as well. Years ago myself and a friend found a drunk late at night, that had fallen & split his head in a Subway. This meant one stopping with him & the other going to a phone box.