Gluten allergies are no joke

[Pancho Villa]

Coming in from work today, I saw a lady collapsed on the ground in the parking lot with a man kneeling by her. I stopped the car and got out (left running, AC cranked - baby was in the back,) ended up calling 911 because the guy was busy making sure she stayed conscious and getting her into a position more conducive to breathing. I was able to help him out with guidance from the operator.

The paramedics came in within a few minutes. She was still breathing when they took her and they didn't seem to think it was a huge deal - they weren't in a rush to get her off to the hospital. Thankfully.

Couple thoughts:

1. As she was breathing and conscious (barely) the whole time, I did not need to do CPR. Knowing that I could was an incredible comfort, though, especially in the initial seconds when I stopped the vehicle and ran over asking if she was okay.

2. When I got out there was another person who managed to walk right by the fucking collapsed woman and man kneeling by her without noticing. I called her over and she helped a little too (mainly running down and waving at the firetruck/ambulance as they took the wrong entrance into the apartment complex, when I told her to.) One of the big things in carrying has always been situational awareness. It was really incredible to me that I noticed this driving by at 15mph but she walked right by without seeing.

So, I guess the lesson is: look around. You never know when you might help someone out. Also learn CPR, the class is super cheap and it was an intense comfort and helped me stay calm running over to a collapsed person.

[Fentonite]

Nice job

[Great-Kazoo]

You stopped and offered assistance something 50-60% of this country would not do. Either out of ignorance, not wanting to get involved, too busy texting and had no situational awareness of anything, or just plain worthless segment of society.
Thanks for helping.

[Tinelement]

You did a good thing dude!!

[SuperiorDG]

I missed the Gluten part?

[Pancho Villa]

You stopped and offered assistance something 50-60% of this country would not do. Either out of ignorance, not wanting to get involved, too busy texting and had no situational awareness of anything, or just plain worthless segment of society.
Thanks for helping.

It's kind of weird. I'm not an altruist; I am an egoist, actually. I live for myself and those I love, and don't put a ton of stock into "serving others" as something particularly important or morally worthy.

But I know part of that is wanting to live in a civil society, including a society where people stop and help someone else. That means me, too, so why not? It was 10 minutes out of my day and maybe the paramedics got to her before her condition worsened.

Mostly I was happy that I stayed cool and calm and was able to deal with the situation well.

[Pancho Villa]

I missed the Gluten part?

It was apparently some kind of allergic reaction to gluten. The guy with her said she had a really severe gluten allergy, but he didn't know where she would have contacted it.

I have a friend who has something similar but not as intense, and I can vouch that gluten is everywhere, though. Lick an envelope? You just got gluten on your tongue, for example.

So, could have been anything.

[Troublco]

Kudos for helping out!

You're right, gluten is in so many things it's really hard to keep tabs on it. My kids are sensitive to Casein (dairy) and Gluten (wheat, and some other things) and you don't realize how pervasive these things are until you try to control/limit them...

[colorider]

Good karma poncho.