Recently I had an encounter with our health care system, our law enforcement and the public’s compassion.
All three, I’m happy to say, performed remarkably well.
It started with leaving the Seymour-Brownstown Central boys basketball game one recent Friday night at Seymour High School and ended in the emergency room at Schneck Medical Center.
Walking along Community Drive toward my car, I stopped at a driveway at the SHS parking lot as traffic jockied to leave.
A man, I think, in a car, or maybe an SUV, motioned me across. I waved a “thanks” and moved on, taking a step or two before my feet went out from under me on a sheet of ice. My head thumped, a couple of times, I think, and my glasses went flying.
Next thing I know I’m rolling over and reaching for my glasses and rubbing by throbbing noggin. I heard car doors open and close as people came up to help. I don’t know who you are, but I thank you, and so does my family. If I didn’t thank you Friday night, please accept it now.
Then a policeman, Sgt. Ryan Huddleston, arrived. We talked a bit. He suggested he take me home, an idea I embraced, although I don’t think I could recall exactly where I lived. Huddleston got me home; I suppose the police have ways of knowing those things, because I really don’t remember much about it.
After some grilling at home by my wife and children — I didn’t recall driving to Owen County earlier in the day to decorate my parents’ graves and I didn’t remember the president’s name (my brother-in-law later suggested he would have found comfort in that) — they took me to the ER.
It wasn’t busy, or at least I don’t think so, and I was processed through the registration, met with a doctor and nurse and underwent a CT scan and X-rays with a technician named Jill, I think, on my head and neck.
After a call from my wife to Seymour Police Department, Huddleston came to the hospital and tried to fill in any blanks about what he found when he helped me at the high school and on the drive home.
His words — “Your dad’s going to be OK” — also provided encouragement and comfort for my daughters, and I appreciate that, just as I appreciate a friend, Tom Rodenbeck, for coming to the ER to stay with the girls while their mother dealt with me and the folks at the hospital.
By the time my tests were done, much of my memory had returned, and the doctor checked my reflexes and some other things and decided I was OK to go home.
It was a strange encounter, one that left me with a sore head and stiff neck, but it also made me grateful for the people who call Jackson County home — those who helped me when I fell, Officer Huddleston, Tom and the folks at Schneck and, of course, my family.
Oh yeah, watch out for the ice this winter.
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