Front Porch: George and the Power of the Human Spirit

[Photo: from George Angus]

As you all know, I host a weekend series here at Jane Be Nimble called Front Porch with a focus on people’s stories (spanning comedy to tragedy)—to steep us in the human experience. Many of life’s best stories are told on front porches, in break rooms, and in back yards; that’s what Front Porch is all about.

The people on my Front Porch aren’t necessarily bloggers—anyone can be featured on the Front Porch. If you want to join me on the Front Porch, drop me a line (Contact Me) and let’s talk! Read the introductory post about this series here. Make sure you don’t miss the next installment of Front Porch—sign up for the free issue delivered via RSS or email.

I recently met George Angus

George IS a blogger and hosts the blog: Tumblemoose. If the name of his blog intrigues you as much as it did me—George explains the meaning of the name of his blog here; it’s a good story that showcases his quick wit!

I happened across a post over at Tumblemoose recently where I discovered that this writer mastermind was actually a paramedic prior to launching his writing career. As a fellow health care provider I felt a connection to him and asked him if we could chat for a bit about a memory from his paramedic career.

Hero George!

While I poured his lemonade (he likes it ice cold) the sun slowly started to set, and I felt it such an honor to spend time with George. I remarked how I thought it cool that he lives in Alaska. To me, that is one of the coolest places on Earth, it seems an unspoiled frontier. I’ve always wanted to live there or at least visit. Alaska seems to me—so wild, “George, have you ever been worried a wild animal would kill you?”

George said, “Went camping towards the end of fall with a buddy when I was in high school. Before we could set camp it started snowing and we couldn’t get a fire going. We were huddled in our tent when we heard a bear grunt and snort right out side the tent!”

As we got comfortable on the wooden benches…

…and sipped our lemonade with ice clinking against the sides of the glass, the skies darkened to a tawny dusk. I could feel the warmth of this guy’s huge heart. I brought up George’s comment in his November 18th post,  that he saved lives while he was a paramedic in Los Angeles, then asked if he minded remembering with me a time where he saved a life and why he remembers that instance.

“I think one of the times that stands out for me speaks a little to the human spirit. We responded to an office building in downtown LA for a person with chest pain. When we arrived at the office, we were ushered into an office where a guy in his late 30s was sitting in a chair. He had all of the signs of someone having a heart attack.

You know, after a while, a good paramedic can just walk into a room and tell if someone was sick. That was the case with this guy. While we were tending to him, what struck me was the genuine compassion and concern his coworkers had for him. Believe it or not, in situations like this, there are a lot of times you could sense the caring just was not there.

Anyway, we did all the normal things—started an IV and gave pain meds, hooked him up to the EKG monitor and prepared him for transport. We got him down to the ambulance and as we were loading him in, his color went south and he stopped breathing. He had gone into cardiac arrest. We immediately charged the defibrillator and administered a shock with the paddles. It didn’t work. After two more attempts, we got a rhythm on the monitor and he started breathing again. We rushed him to the hospital and he was ultimately admitted to the cardiac until and after bypass surgery he went home. That was a genuine, saved a life call.”

Wow, George, that gave me goosebumps!

I volunteered in an emergency room when I was in school and had assisted doctors and nurses to save lives (CPR). I can relate to how you may have felt. But, since I only volunteered for short time, I never heard stories about what happened to the people we saved. Did you ever hear from the person you described later in life?

“We did receive a very nice thank you note from his office. That was more than enough. They were champions for him and knowing that we saved the life of someone who folks cared so deeply about makes me feel great—even to this day. We never did hear about how things ended up being with him, but that’s not too unusual.”

I’m thinking this is pretty cool, I’m here on the Front Porch with a real hero! Think about it; this guy (with his colleagues) saved a life. A man’s heart started beating because George intervened. I asked George what, if anything, triggers him to remember this man.

“Like most calls, every once in a while this will pop into my head, although I’m not certain I could put my finger on why. I think the big trigger is if I’m in an office setting where the folks really seem to care about each other. You know how sometimes you just get that sense when you walk into a business? It’s like that.”

I was curious, since he remembered this moment in history with me here on the Front Porch, if this one experience changed the way his does anything or approaches situations.

Treat folks how I would want to be treated.

“I don’t think it changed the way I do things other than to always keep in mind to treat folks how I would want to be treated and be someone that folks would be eager to show the same kind of compassion that his coworkers showed for him.”

The outside of our glasses was wet with condensation and our lemonade was nearly gone. And, as per George’s wish, the mosquitoes found somewhere else to hang for the evening while we talked. It doesn’t get much better than this!

George, thanks for joining me here on the Front Porch and for hosting your rocking blog, too. It has been my honor that you shared part of your life with me here on the Front Porch.

And, to the readers out there, do you have questions for George about his experience as a paramedic? Have you ever saved a life? Help me welcome Gerorge to the Front Porch.

Create a great day!

Previous Front Porch Posts:
Front Porch – The Series
Front Porch – Tim’s Story (With Tim Piotrowski)
Front Porch – Pearl’s Wisdom (A conversation with Lori’s first pet)
Front Porch – An F22 Jet and a Costa Rican Chica (With Lisis Blackston)

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