Helpless During an Emergency Situation

Yesterday morning, I was notified that one of my cousins out there on the East coast was missing. He had been out hiking (by himself - hope that lesson has been learned) and had not been heard from in 72 hours. (Don't worry, he was found by park rangers and is being observed in the hospital, so happy ending at the moment - just wanted you to know this up front so you didn't have to wonder...) His sister let us in Facebook world know that he was missing and then updated us during the day about the process of finding him.

Turns out, he wasn't where he had last checked in from - he was in a completely different state and a different state park. Once his car was found in the parking lot, the park rangers coordinated a search and found him. He was sent to the local hospital for evaluation and there has been no more news.

The entire day was spent watching Facebook for news and hoping that it would be a good outcome. Being 1500 miles away from situations like this is frustrating. I want to help but cannot because of distance. I tracked down information about friends who were in the area when my cousin was checking in. That was just to keep me busy.

This is not the first time that this has happened this year. I have been unable to help out in many situations because I am here and they happened elsewhere. I feel helpless because I can't be there, but I also know that dropping everything to go and "help" would be something that unnecessarily complicates the emergency.

There is nothing worse for a "helper" to be unable to help.

This year has tested my helping attitude more than any other. There have been many situations where I have wanted to help out but couldn't because of where I am in the world. There have been other challenges that have complicated my helping urges also - broken fingers and light duty restrictions have made things more difficult closer to home.

Anyway. This was just some quick thoughts about being helpless in emergencies. Just a throwaway post on an early Monday morning. 

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