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found neighbor on garage floor

Geo-TH,In

Geo-TH,In

Well-known Member
I noticed my 78 year old neighbor's tractor running for about an hour, didn't see him. Decided to go over and check it out. Found him on garage floor. He said he slipped getting on tractor, then crawled all the way to the garage. He said the frozen ground and gravel was hard on his arms. Asked if he wanted me to call 911. He said no just help me get up. That wasn't easy, he was exhausted, not to mention frozen. Well I got him up. Helped to get him in the house, just as his legs gave out. Got him in a chair inside the door. Then got him in another chair with wheels to get him to the recliner. He was complaining about his back hurting. I'm no doctor, but I think this man's legs gave out because he has back issues, nerves getting pinched. I asked him why he didn't call me. He said he left his phone next to the bed.

I put his massey in barn, closed all the doors and made sure he was OK.

All this took about an hour. I was exhausted too. He is a big man, more dead weight than I can lift. Checked up on him later. His sister was there taking care of him. I have a feeling he's not going to be able to take care of his cows and chickens by himself.
George
 
Good thing for him you were alert & willing to help, otherwise he might be dead. Congratulations to you for helping. But I feel bad for him, looks like some hard decisions in his future.
 
Well done neighborly thing to do. If possible keeping in touch with the man's needs, and paying that attention is profoundly correct. Jim
 
Glad you were able to help him. Thanks for being a good neighbor. Lota folks don't like cell phones but it is a very rare occasion I don't have mine in my hand or my pocket. If I am just going into the garage to the washing machine it goes along. Not that I am expecting a call or worried about missing one. I want to be able to contact someone should I have an accident or health issue. My Grandmother fell outside one cold winter day and would have died laying out if my cousin had not happened along to find her. I live alone.
 
lost a guy i worked with got drunk friends droped him off on floor went back to party next day he was gone .you never know i also live alone its a blessing to have some body call and check up on you i did a lot of thinking about that yesterday fell off haystack but got lucky . take care and god bless for neighbors like you
 
Good for u , maybe he should get that neck thing that you can get help with the push of the button! I can't remember the name of it. But it's on tv all the time.
 
Wow, in Boy Scouts we call that your "daily good deed." As an Eagle Scout I try to find one every day, but sometimes I don't... Not a lot of people have the common sense to even check in on people like that, much less the motive to help them rather than call 911. I salute you for that. Bryce
 
Only a country person would notice a tractor running for an extended period of time for no reason. Good thing you checked up on him. My dad fell outside on the ice and couldn't get up a couple of years ago. He called for mom to get help. She started out to help him and he made her get back inside and call. He told her we don't both need to be laying out here. She finally got a hold of a neighbor and he stuck with them the whole day taking them to their doctor appt. That's why dad was outside walking to the garage to get the car and take mom to her doctor.
 
Good job George!

Something else that people have to help themselves, but they forget about, is their remote key fob. Most of them have a horn button on them. If you heard a neighbors car horn honking for an extended period, you"d go see what was the matter. You have to be within a couple of hundred feet from the car, but that"s a pretty big circle.

I had a friend who died a few years ago. His wife was already passed on, he lived by himself, and we never did figure out what he was doing when he died. His field sprayer was tipped up with the tongue in the air, and he was lying behind it. Also had a ladder up to the shed roof nearby. It was hot weather, and he"d lain there for several days.

Closed casket.
 
Glad you were there, we do the same thing here in the area we live in, we're always checking on each other and making sure nothing is out of the norm, it's nice having neighbors around you that you can count on.
 
George You did a GREAT thing!!!!!

A few years ago a friend of the family fell going out to start his truck to warm up. His drive looped behind his house. So you could not see his truck form the road. He only had on light inside cloths. He hit his head and knocked himself out. He froze to death laying there. No one noticed him not being around until the next day.

So you did well.
 
Now that I take care of my parents, 90 and 92, I can't believe how rare this happens. I do their driving, dr, pharmacy, grocery, etc. From What I see there should be dozens of fatal car crashes, accidental od's, and falls, daily. Just from old folks that have no one to monitor them. Not a rant just an observation
 
Im 76 and keep my cell phone in my front overalls pocket.A flap snaps down so it can fall out.I rarely use it but its always with me.I dont see the concern that neighbors used to have for neighbors any more.A fellow who lives across from my son has not been to see my son at all.My son was hurt in a car accident august 25 and has had to use a walker since.My son worked for the fellow surveying and pruning his orchard.My son didnt have any firewood in his wood shed when he got hurt.I hauled out what I had cut last year but it wasnt enough.My nephews and a friend made several 250 mile trips to help out.We cut a lot of white ash and got both wood sheds filled.My daughter and family helped stacking wood in the shed.My friends who would have pitched in to help are disabled or have passed on.I have lived here for 45 years but are worried about growing old here.I put in 35 years in the volunteer fire department.I noticed 2 of our firemen put their places up for sale after a ripoff tax assesmment was done.We had an ambulance service for 20 years but thats gone now.My advise to young people is this.Get out of the rural areas because you will get high taxes and zero services.
Untitled URL Link
 
You did the right thing by being a good samartin. But you should have called an EMT just to check out his vital signs, BP, heart rate, eye functions, reflexes for an older guy. Just saying be safe, you know.
 
A 70 year old neighbor decided to change the bulb in his security light on the barn, 25 feet in the air. It was down around zero, the ladder slipped and he fell breaking his right arm and leg in several places. He nearly died because he was found 2 hours later, by his wife. He never has recovered fully.
 
Last winter in one of the villages near me a lady fell into a snowbank or ditch, I forget which, outside her home. Lived alone, no friends, you know the score. Neighborhood kids noticed her lights off after dark, thought it was unusual, wandered over and found her. Good thing a couple of snot nosed 12 year olds got curious!
 
Good going George!
One lesson we can all take away from this,and some have already alluded too is KEEP YOUR CELL PHONE ON YOUR PERSON!
My brother is a scrapper and he was working in a burnt barn. Section of wall came down and pinned him. He laid there for 6 hours,his cell phone was 10 ft away on the dash of his truck.
He got lucky and the landowner noticed that his truck hadn"t moved for 8 hours and went to check on him.
 
Good story George...reminds me of my wife's uncle. He went by our house at 7:25 every day, you could set a clock by him. When he didn't go by one day by 7:45 we checked on him and found him on the kitchen floor. He had a massive stroke and died a few days later after it was clear he wouldn't recover and took him off life support.
 
Years ago when I was in high school I was also a student bus driver one afternoon on the way home it was snowing pretty good and going along a country road one of the kids yelled that there was somone lying over the bank of the road.I backed up and we went to look and it was a local fellow that often drank too much he was drunk and had fell over the bank and passed out about dark.So we got him up and got him on the bus and I carried him up to his house we all helped him inside.Probably the driver would have gotten fired these days but thats the way it went back then.
 
My wife found our neighbor across the street in a similar situation. He had fallen getting on the riding mower and called out to her when she came home. She got him up and in the house but insisted on taking him to the doctor to be checked out. Took threatening to call the ambulance to get him to go. He was ok with a couple bruises. His biggest concern was he didn't want his daughters to find out as they would move him to assisted living (which they did as he was having some other health issues also). I think he was 89 at the time.
 
good job George

With stuff getting so small, they need to make a pendant, etc,
that you can wear, with a button on it.
that will dial one number on your phone, or send a pre-typed text message.

I work alone most of the time, and there is just no way to have my phone on my person anywhere. It will get broken, no doubt.
(if I even remember to take it to the shop at all)
Not interested in outside monitoring companies, and definitely not some 'agency' that 'knows what's best for me'
Get pinned in the shop, press a button on a neck pendant and my phone dials my son. He could help me or get help if he can't do it alone.
 
I'm the person that only carried cellphone when leaving the property. On May 17th this year I turned 53, on May 18th while pulling some overgrown shrubs with my tractor I had a little chest pain and thought I had finally grown into heart burn. Was dragging a chain to hook another bunch when pain got worse and took my breath away. After shutting Sadie down (leaving her in middle of driveway), I went and sat on the stoop and realized no stregth in arms, so with effort managed to get up and get inside and had SWMBO call 911. 4 days later I got outa the hospital after suffering a heart attack. 2 weeks later had another while sitting in H.R.s office trying to report back to work. Happy Birthday to me!

I now carry phone and Nitro pills ANY time I leave house.

FYI: If you have chest pains and are getting sick to stomach ....call 911 FIRST, even if you dont talk to them. According to the EMTs, many people are found in bathroom getting sick .....DEAD!!
 
My mother had the Life Alert pendent she wore. Never had to use it. But at least she had it. Might be some thing you could talk your neighbor into getting.
 
MIL fell in kitchen. Had Life Line pendant but it was on the table and couldn't reach up to grab it. Couldn't get to phone cord to pull it down, had been carefully worked in behind everything to keep her from tangling her feet with it. Crawled to bedroom, simliar situation, couldn't get to phone. After not hearing from her for two days, SWMBO went to her mom's house and found her laying in the bathroom. Wouldn't let us call ambulance. Took her to the hospital in my car with badly broken hip. Refused to wear pendant or keep it on her person. Almost caused her death.
 
I was looking after an elderly neighbor years ago.He had lost an eye to cancer and was pretty much blind in the eye he had left.He lived across from the post office and I saw him nearly get hit crossing the road.His daughter and son inlaw lived next door but both worked so they were away for at least 10 hours a day.His wife had died so he was in a bad spot.I called his son and told him that I would get his mail.That would give me a chance to check on him mid day.There was an ice storm in January.I told him to stay in because of the ice.He had a 55 gal drum for kerosene.Oil dealer brought in the oil bill.It was more than usual so Dan went out to see if his oil line was leaking.He fell on the ice and broke his hip.He was laying behind the trailer but 2 fellows coming down the hiway saw him and stopped.He was so cold they carried him inside and called the ambulance.He lived about 2 weeks.Dan had a phone but never used it.I had told him to call me any time.He talked about giving up the phone to save money. He was a tight wad but it cost him dearly.
 
(quoted from post at 23:30:23 12/13/13) Good for u , maybe he should get that neck thing that you can get help with the push of the button! I can't remember the name of it. But it's on tv all the time.
Click to expand...
ife Alert. Mom had one for several years before she finally had to move to nursing home. There is a receiver that plugs into your phone line and you have to be within range of that, which is around 100 feet.
 
Friend of ours in his 80's went hunting, when he didn't come in when expected, wife sent out a nephew to find him. He had fallen in a swamp. Couldn't get up. Was there over two hours. They did rescue him, but he's not recovering very quickly. Bet he doesn't go hunting alone again.
 
The neck thing has a limited range. Cell phone has unlimited range. Just hang cell phone around your neck, push 911 send.

Neighbor is still in pain. I think he learned not to go anywhere without his cell.
 
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