Drama in my street

[spindrift]

I noticed people gathering in the street outside my house yesterday. Someone was lying on the ground in the road. A woman in a white coat was using her mobile. Had there been a traffic accident?

I rushed out and offered to help. People were walking away and cars were slowly moving past the man in the road. It seemed that he had drunk himself into oblivion. He smelled of alcohol.

The last time someone fell on the pavement outside my house it had turned out that she had had an epileptic fit. Anyway I waited around then finally went back into the house. An ambulance was on its way.

I went up to the third floor to see what would happen next. Once the ambulance arrived the white-coated lady disappeared.
The ambulance men took over.

Not wanting to draw attention to myself I took pictures through the window.

It seemed that the prone man was homeless. He had been carrying several bags that were strewn around. I noticed that even whilst he was unconscious he had his fingers through one of the bag handles. The amubulance men examined various plastic bottles that they took out of his bag and smelled the contents. They asked him whether he had drunk 'all of this' and 'all of that'.... I couldn't hear his answers.

He must have been drunk because they called the police who duly arrived and stood him up against a wall.

Someone had put a blanket around him. He didn't seem to be saying much and I think he was highly embarrassed. The poor unfortunate.

His belongings were still on the road

and I felt great pity for him. I wondered what his story was.

[Deleted]

I have seen the same sort of event from my windows. I dislike feeling helpless when it is not clear what happened. People seem to jump to the most convenient conclusions.

[bixaorellana]

You are so goodhearted, Spindrift. And Kerouac is right -- it's easy to decide that the person is drunk (i.e. his own fault), then move on. It's lucky someone called about that man, as he could have been injured if left where he was.

I was on my way to visit someone in the big social security hospital here. There is a very wide sidewalk in front of the hospital, which fronts on the busy ring road. About a half block from the entrance to the hospital, there was a man lying on the ground. He was very still, so I watched him for a moment and couldn't tell if he was breathing or not. At the entrance to the hospital, there was a group of men wearing tags that indicated they had official permission to be there. I told them what I saw, and asked where to go to report it, or if one of them could investigate. They laughed and said, "Oh forget about him -- he is undoubtedly drunk." They couldn't see him from where they were, which I pointed out. I then went into the hospital to look for help. Oh yeah -- the group of men? They were handing out A.A. literature.

[spindrift]

How very upsetting that was for you, Bixa.

When looking out of my window I was all the time checking that the ambulance men and police were being gentle with the man in the road. They were.

[Deleted]

Judging from the stories my husband has told me about dealing with these types of calls when he worked for EMS,many times it is a case of inebriation and often times inebriation coupled with a serious medical condition such as epilepsy,diabetes or a serious mental disorder. Many times,when it is simply a very drunk person and they are disturbed out of their stupor they can and will become quite belligerent and combative.
There is also the matter of whether or not the person being treated is infectious and trying to start an IV on someone who's struggling can be very dangerous for all parties involved.There is a very high incident rate of infectious diseases transferred to Emergency workers working in a non sterile zone.
Bravo for your efforts SD.

[bazfaz]

When I was a student at university in Durban I was driving to a lecture one day, came over the brow of a hill and found a man sprawled in the road. I braked in time. The front wheel had come off his bicycle and caterpulted him over the handlebars. He was unconscious with some blood from his wounds. A woman at a house telephoned for help. I hung around, not knowing what to do. After about 10 minutes an ambulance appeared. Apparently it was just returning to hospital after taking someone home. The two ambulancemen got out, looked at the man on the road and got back in their vehicle. Aren't you taking this unconscious man to hospital? No, we are an ambulance for whites only.

I think that is when I decided I didn't want to live there any more.

[Deleted]

Wow! It's difficult for me to believe let alone understand that mentality. I would have left living there too.
My husband has shared stories of partners that he had to work with who had a similar mentality but not on that scale.

[happytraveller]

Baz, that is a terribly sad and shocking story !

[tillystar]

God that made my blood run cold. How can people treat other people like that.

[bixaorellana]

It's shocking and sad, certainly, but hardly surprising. That kind of cruel indifference pales in light what humans are capable of doing to other humans.