It has often been said that whenever you find a person in need, you find an opportunity for kindness. Battalion Chief Chris Armstrong of the Grass Valley Fire Department, no stranger to people in need, recently welcomed an opportunity for kindness when he received a phone call from Hospice of the Foothills.
My bedridden neighbor had made a simple request to her friend and to her hospice nurse: she wanted to celebrate her last birthday with her family of friends in the sunshine and fresh air of her back yard. The problem for her caregivers would be the narrow hallway and steep stairs of her elevated home: how could it all be negotiated?
Enter Chief Armstrong, accompanied by two of the department’s strong young firefighters, Austin Greer and Tyler Tomlinson, who not only carried my neighbor down her steep stairs and into her backyard but also presented her with a cake and balloons, then stayed in honor of her celebration; and even though they were called away for an hour to deal with a medical emergency, they returned and gently carried my neighbor back up to her bed, a graceful conclusion to her poignant afternoon.
Often the firefighters of the Brighton Street Station House return weary after a day of fire responses, emergency medical treatments, car accidents, or other public safety or service tasks. They are dedicated firefighters, just “Doing the Job” and doing it well. Yet the afternoon of September 26th was something quite out of the ordinary, even for professionals who serve our community in so many varied ways.
Here’s looking at you– Chris, Austin, and Tyler–for the extraordinary birthday celebration you made possible for our sweet neighbor just one week before her death.
As Engine 1 drove off that day, a soothing melody and a few lines from an old Glen Campbell song came to mind:
Let me be when I am weary
Just a little bit more cheery
Let me think more of my neighbor
And a little less of me.
Editor’s note: Contact timothymay49@gmail.com to suggest someone in our community for a ‘Here’s To’ article.