The shimmering lines of fake mirage rose from the pavement ahead of us. It was still morning, but the temperature was already in the 90s without a cloud in the sky. Only rocks, scrub brush and cactus lined the highway on either side. The only other vehicles on the road were large trucks making their way between Bakersfield and Flagstaff and Albuquerque beyond. My husband had an interest in Citizens Band radios at that time so we had one in our car. These short range CB or “ham” radios were popularized in the 1970s by the movie “Smokey and the Bandit.” Steve and I were listening to local radio chatter when we noticed something odd off to the left side of the road.
In the early years of my marriage, my husband and I traveled from Gallup, New Mexico to Central and Southern Oregon frequently. His two children from a previous marriage lived in the Gilroy area and a sister lived near Irvine. One summer day after a trip to see his kids, we were headed back to our home in Gallup on I-40. We were driving across the desert in between Barstow and Needles past Newberry Springs and Ludlow. We had survived the mountain pass at Tehachapi that had caused our older cars to overheat. It was a long, boring stretch of road.
Suddenly, we noticed an old faded red car on its roof with the doors flung open. We could barely make out some figures on the large rocks just past the car. My husband immediately screeched to a halt and put our car in reverse. There was no one else near us on the freeway. He radioed a call for help on his CB radio, grabbed his medical bag and ran across the road. I was close behind. Steve was an EMT from his years with the Gallup, New Mexico Fire Department. I also had some medical background and we both had taken first aid and CPR.
As we approached the overturned car, we saw an older couple. An older woman sat on a rock and was moaning. An older man was holding one arm and had a cut across his forehead. He was trying to tend to her, but he was clearly not in good shape himself. He explained that he and his wife were driving through the night to avoid the heat. He was on medication and had gotten tired and swerved suddenly when jolted awake and the car left the road and flipped over. Not wearing seat belts, they were ejected from the car.
Steve led the man to sit on another large, flat rock next to his wife. He opened the medical bag and made a quick sling and put it over the man’s head. He slid the obviously dislocated arm gently into the sling. The man winced. Steve started to bandage the man’s head while constantly talking to him, asking him questions and assessing his mental status. I stayed with the woman. She complained of pain in her abdomen. I got out a reflective thin Mylar emergency blanket and held it over her head. The temperature was rising. Beads of sweat began pouring off my face and neck. I asked my husband how he was doing with the husband.
“I think this guy is either affected by his medications or he is in shock. We need to get them some help right away,” Steve said as he took their vital signs.
About this time, two large men came upon us. They were truckers who heard the emergency plea on the radio and found us. I asked them to hold the corners of the reflective blanket over the couple. Another trucker came running up. We asked him to radio ahead to the next town and request an ambulance. We tried to calm the couple and assure them that help was on the way and asked about the medications they were taking. This may help the medical personnel in the coming ambulance. The truckers looked strange. Here were large burly men holding a fluttering delicate reflective film like ballet dancers doing a May Day dance, but they were dutiful and didn’t question it.
The other trucker came back and told us that he had connected with the next city of Needles. They were sending an ambulance, but it may take 45 minutes or so. This was welcome news to everyone. Help was on the way. We just needed to keep the couple as cool as possible and awake. I went for water in our car. We gave them drinks and put cool compresses on their heads. Just before the 45 minutes were up, another nicely dressed man with a small black bag approached. He asked about the situation. Once we filled him in on our assessment and that help was coming, he got back into his car and left. We speculated that he was a medical professional and didn’t want to get involved.
As non-medical-professionals, the truckers and I would be covered by the Good Samaritan Law. It states that people who stop and render aid in an emergency cannot be sued unless there is gross negligence. Good Samaritan laws offer legal protection to people who give reasonable assistance to those who are injured, ill or in danger. They are intended to reduce the hesitation of bystanders to assist those in need, by providing protection to those who act in good faith. It stems from the Biblical story of the Good Samaritan.
The story of the Good Samaritan is one of Jesus’ parables told in the Gospel of Luke. It is about a Jewish traveler who is stripped, beaten, and left for dead alongside a road. A Samaritan came upon the traveler. Although Samaritans and Jews despised each other, the Samaritan helped the injured man. The parable admonishes people to always help those in need despite who they are. The Good Samaritan law does not apply to medical professionals, especially doctors, nurses and paramedics who have advanced medical training. They are held to a different level of accountability.
Our merry band of helpers tried to keep the mood light by talking about ourselves and where we were all headed when we stopped. The men talked about the handiness of CB radios. Once the ambulance arrived, the paramedics quickly assessed the situation and put the couple on stretchers and carried them to the waiting vehicle. We packed up our medical equipment and thanked the truckers who had stopped and helped.
Once back in our car, my husband and I breathed a sigh of relief. It felt good to help the couple who could have perished of their injuries if left in the heat. It also restored our faith in the helpfulness of others, especially truckers who get a bad reputation as brutes and roughnecks. These truckers stopped during the course of their work, makin,g them later in getting to their destinations. They were acting on a code of the road. You offer help because one day, it may be you who needs it.