Cell phone helpful as lifelines

One of my neighbors recently had his hip come out of place. He didn't have his cell phone on him so he was stuck out in his backyard several hours until his wife returned home from work.

You can see what a bad problem this could be for several obvious reasons most importantly, what if he needed to use the restroom? From then on he carried his cell phone with him and the next two times his hip popped out he was able to call 911 and get help quickly. I am happy to say two weeks ago he had a new hip put in and he is doing great.

Last Saturday night I returned home from the 19th annual Ruhenstroth Fire Department's barbecue fundraiser dinner to find a frantic message on my answering machine from a dear friend here in the east Johnson Lane area. It said, "Help Lisa, I fell and I can't get up and my husband is out of town."

I quickly drove down the block to her house. I would like to add a footnote here: Who has your house keys? I have theirs.

As I knocked and then entered the house I found my friend lying on the living room floor in a large pool of blood. She was shaken up but had not lost consciousness. I helped her lean up so I could see the top of her head. It had a small split on top and lots of blood.

While cleaning the wound it looked like it would need a couple of stitches. I applied ice wrapped in a towel and called 911. A Johnson Lane volunteer was at the door in a matter of minutes with an engine following behind a couple minutes later. Then it was only a couple of more minutes when a small crew from the Jack's Valley Station pulled in.

They assessed her blood pressure and pulse. Checked the wound and applied a bandage and wrapped her head with gauze to hold it on. She decided she'd rather have me drive her to the emergency room so I could also bring her back home. It was no problem for me.

Big thanks to Johnson Lane responders Dick Attwood, Joe Turek and Brad Bolton. And to Jacks Valley crew members Capt. Matt Kruse, firefighters/medics Heidi Nelson, Joel Green and Zac Pedersen. We really appreciate having the volunteers so close to home.

So the main things I wanted to point out in this story is how important it is that as we are getting older to notify a friend if your spouse is going out of town. Keep your cell phone on your person and make sure your friend has your house keys.

I hope you are having a wonderful summer. Please call me if you'd like to share what you are doing.

Lisa Welch is a Johnson Lane resident and can be reached at 267-9350.