THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 23, 1996 TAG: 9606210184
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: FACES AND PLACES
LENGTH: 85 lines
Kristy White says she's no hero for saving a man's life last month.
Suffolk Police, however, commended her for keeping Robert Walter from slipping into shock while waiting for rescuers to reach his wrecked truck in the remote area between Holland and Whaleyville.
``I don't feel like a hero,'' said 17-year-old Kristy. ``I feel like my mom was, more than anything.''
Her mother, Sandy White, was the first emergency worker to arrive on the scene of the collision with a school bus on May 2. Kristy was close behind her.
Sandy White, an emergency medical technician with Nansemond-Suffolk Volunteer Rescue Squad, is perhaps no hero, either.
No more so than her daughter, who joined the squad a year ago. And no more so, perhaps, than any other rescue worker each time they respond to a call.
Both Kristy and her mother were off-duty when the dispatcher paged rescuers to Pineview Road, about three miles from the Whites' house.
Kristy was in her bedroom, fixing her hair before leaving for classes at Lakeland High School, where she was a junior. Her mother left first, driving the squad's zone car she would use on duty that night.
``We live in the boondocks,'' Sandy White said. ``Any first aid is 30 minutes away.''
Then Kristy heard the call for Nightingale helicopter ambulance and knew the injuries could be serious. She hesitated briefly, wondering whether her mother would be mad if she were late for school, then jumped in her pickup.
Too young to drive an ambulance or be an attendant-in-charge, she rides third on a rescue team, sometimes with her mother.
Nothing she had seen prepared her for that morning.
``It was my first real bad wreck, so my adrenaline was running,'' she said. ``When I first walked up, I was stunned. I didn't know what to do.''
Sandy White, who had quickly assessed the situation and asked the dispatcher to ``send everything,'' was grateful for help.
``I was never so glad to see anybody,'' she said. ``I've been in the squad almost seven years, but I've never been the first responder to an accident alone.''
Kristy said her mother told her, `` `Go talk to him. Talk to him. His name's Bobby.' ''
Kristy walked over to the crumpled truck in a yard. Metal was twisted around Walter's leg.
``The whole front end lay in his lap,'' Kristy said. ``The door on his side was open, and his left arm was cut up pretty bad.''
He was in great pain, she said. ``He was yelling.''
She put some gauze bandages on his arm to try to stop the bleeding, then just stood on the ground beside him and talked.
She talked for nearly 25 minutes.
``I'd ask if he was hurting,'' she said. ``I put my hand on his chest and asked if it hurt. He would say, `No.'
``I told him, `They're on the way, they're coming,' '' said Kristy, who hopes to enter the medical profession one day. ``I think he sort of understood. It was more that somebody was there.''
After on-duty rescuers arrived, she moved aside while they cut the truck apart and loaded the victim in the helicopter in a nearby field.
When the chopper took off, she again worried about school, knowing she needed an excuse. The investigating police officer, R.J. Kline, handed her his card with a note on the back.
Kline, who charged the bus driver with reckless driving, was impressed with the teenager's actions.
``She basically kept him out of shock,'' he said.
By the time Kristy got to school, Kline had called to let them know why she was late.
At a school awards program later in May, the police gave Kristy a certificate, noting her ``outstanding citizenry on May 2, 1996, by rendering aid in time of distress.''
Walter's wife, Susan, said he's recovering, though slowly. He takes physical therapy three times a week, but at least he's alive, she said.
So perhaps Kristy's a hero after all. She didn't have to show up that morning. And she also doesn't have to show up twice a month for duty shifts with the squad or take the extensive training required of members, most of them volunteers.
But perhaps we should call each of them ``heroes,'' handing out certificates constantly. Or since the squad depends upon contributions to survive, a donation from each of us might be appropriate.
Some squad members say that would be thanks enough. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Kristy White has been a volunteer rescue squad member for a year.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENTS TRAFFIC INJURIES ARREST
HEROES RESCUE by CNB