Letters to the Editor

Letter: Humanity shines through

We knew it was there.

But human kindness and helpfulness sometimes get overrun by the alwaysconcerning news of the day.

On Wednesday, May 17, we were out for a walk on the newly declared legalto- use Stewart Trail with our friends, the Siebes.

We made our way around the padlocked gate and up the road-wide trail on a glorious sunny day.

About a half-mile in, all of a sudden, my husbandbegan to stagger as if unable to support himself on one of his legs. Our friend Carl worked to support him on that side.

We kept going, but soon it was apparent this problem wasn’t going away, and it could have been getting worse.

We decided to turn back. Coming up the trail was a lady in bright pink.

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She figured out we needed help as I was calling 911.

She ran back to the gate to guide the EMTs to us. With me on one side and Carl on the other, we had begun to make our way slowly to the trailhead when a gentleman passerby, on a bike, hurried to get the lock-owner to unlock the gate for ambulance access. By the time we made it back, the fire engine and its crew were there ready to do emergency aid and, within minutes, the ambulance arrived to transport their potential stroke victim to the hospital.

It was all pretty scary, but we felt we were in loving, caring hands, from our good friends, the Seibes, to the lady in pink (thanks for the hug for a stranger) to the quick and thoughtful work by the biking gentleman, and, of course, our amazing 911 responders, on the phone and in person! The Providence ER staff, too, were “on it” and had all the resources and attentive experts ready to help. And the good news is, it looks like my husband is going to be OK!

These are the uplifting experiences of true humanity that make living in Alaska so awesome. We thank all of the folks who made that day a warm and fuzzy one in spite of a very worrisome situation.

— Cindy and Wray Kinard

Anchorage

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