By Elliott Brack | In the distance, was that a siren? Waiting among a large group in a medical facility recently for a doctor’s appointment, an ambulance pulled up to the building entrance. That explained the siren. Three EMTs started rolling in a gurney.
About that time a Gwinnett fire truck from Station 15 on Perry Street in Lawrenceville also quietly pulled up to the building, with three fireman joining the EMTs.
A guy in medical clothing saw the grou
p coming in and directed all six guys to the other side of the building from where I was. From previous visits I knew that side was where people visited for medical procedures.
After about 10 minutes, the EMTs came out with a guy about 40 years old sitting up on the gurney. They loaded the person in the ambulance, which pulled away. Shortly the firefighters also drove off.
We never learned what was the specific cause of this incident. We suspect that the person on the gurney needed additional medical attention, and was sent by doctors to the hospital.
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Thinking about what I had witnessed, it got me to thinking of what citizens want from their government…..good honest service, efficiently performed, but while staying routinely in the background.
Had Gwinnett not had an efficiently-operating Fire Department, that guy on the gurney may have been in serious difficulty, even though at a medical office. When someone determined he needed emergency movement to the hospital, everything speedily fell into shape for him.
When each of us depart from home each day, whether for work, or out on an errand, or visiting someone, we can be confronted with situations out of our control. When that happens, we are dependent on kind individuals and our local government to assist us.
We may be involved in an accident…..or have our own health problem…..or perhaps we merely slip and fall down while walking toward a grocery store.
Almost always, help arrives. When departing on this trip, we will have had no idea we will soon need assistance. We may not even know who came and provided assistance. But help is there.
Talking to an official of an electric utility recently, he noted that all most of his customers want is service, and for the most part, never think of the utility. The customers never recognize all that routinely goes on to provide them with good service, that maintaining the right-of-way for electric lines costs a lot of time and money, being continually cleared; the poles maintained, and the lines kept free from entanglements. But the customers never think of this.
Customers understand when dramatic events, such as heavy storms, cause power to be out. Most are patient, recognizing that crews work diligently to restore power. But in general, most people never give the utility a second thought until “the lights go out.”
It’s the same way with your government, which includes police, fire and emergency management personnel. And the garbage collectors. Or the courts, or schools, or postmen. These people operate in the background. All too often, we do not realize they are there working for us, nor appreciate them enough. Yet we live in these United States and have these services on call, should we need them.
That man being transported to the hospital and his family are thankful for help being on standby for him the other day. All of us in Gwinnett are fortunate to live in an area where we have good service and good government but never give it a thought! Be thankful! These people are on duty for us. It’s wonderful!
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