Reflections

618142 preview

THE WOMAN WITH THE FROZEN ARM

Bethel, Alaska was not what Tom and I had expected when traveling thousands of miles to “The Last Frontier”. This formidable state was famous for being a land of extreme variety and beauty. But instead of majestic mountains, we found flat tundra. Instead of towering trees covering the whole area, we found one lonely tree in front of the police station. Instead of beautiful ornate, softly floating snowflakes, we found fine, stinging snow particles that blew across the landscape with a vengeance. Tom and I had come to this unusual village to serve as Assistant Pastors under his brother Glynn. Although we were disappointed by the aesthetic appearance of our new home, we did find a church and a community of very open, loving and friendly people.

One Wednesday night as we stood around drinking hot chocolate, visiting and laughing after church, one of our members came bursting through the door, frantically calling for Pastor Glynn for help. As Marcus was leaving the church that evening, he came across a snow-covered form lying in a snow bank along the road. Unable to move the person by himself, he came back to the church for help. Pastor Glynn quickly threw on his winter gear and ran out the door after him. They jumped into Marcus’ El Camino and headed down the road. Sure enough, about six blocks from the church there lay the crumpled body of a woman. She was dressed in a coat and boots but was partially covered with a snow drift. As was the norm this time of year in Bethel, the temperature was well below 0 and the wind was howling. Glynn knelt down beside the poor woman, trying to check for any sign of life. She appeared to be breathing but was in very serious condition. After further examination, Glynn found that the woman felt stiff in certain areas of her body, especially one of her arms. The men hurriedly worked together to lift her into their vehicle in an attempt to rush her to the local hospital. They feared that she had already suffered from extreme exposure and that one of her arms was frozen as it felt hard to the touch.

They raced through the village as swiftly and safely as possible. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they arrived at the medical complex. Glynn jumped out of the car at the front door of the hospital to run in and alert the staff to this emergency situation. He breathlessly blurted out, “We found a woman in a snowdrift, she is unconscious and in very serious condition, with a frozen arm.” In the meantime, Marcus had pulled around back to the Emergency Room entrance. The rather large garage door opened to allow his vehicle inside to the ambulance parking area. The hospital intercom came to life calling everyone in the vicinity to action. Lights were flashing and personnel were running to assist in the rescue of this poor unfortunate woman.

As Glynn made his way back to the ER area, he saw the orderlies removing the woman from the vehicle. She appeared to have woken up from her frozen state and was quite combative as they assisted her onto a gurney. The nurses surrounded the woman as they escorted her into the treatment room. They were attempting to be very careful of her frozen arm, knowing that a limb impaired this way could be extremely painful. By this time she was displaying a rather violent, drunken behavior with the people who were trying to help her. As they endeavored to remove her snow-covered coat to replace it with soft, heated blankets, she fought all the harder.

Finally, the coat came off and the hospital personnel stepped back with stunned gasps to find her frozen arm was actually encased in a rather large cast. When Glynn and Marcus saw the commotion and the prominent white cast, they slowly but steadily blended quietly into the background, making their awkward retreat. Their concern for the woman’s welfare had been sincere but now it seemed just a little embarrassing to know that the emergency probably wasn’t quite as dire as they had thought. A broken arm didn’t really rank as an emergency like a frozen arm. And yet, because of their compassion and call to action, this woman’s life WAS spared. In her drunken state, she could have easily frozen to death, had they not rescued her, from that snowdrift- covered ditch. However, in their minds, this was not the time for high fives or a pat on the back. So they left without anyone knowing the identities of the two local champions.

The next day, Glynn and Marcus learned that the hospital had been under a huge strain the night before. Several very serious cases had come through the doors and the personnel were feeling stressed, discouraged and drained. The shock of finding a broken rather than a frozen arm and the laughter that had erupted after our two heroes departure from the scene, served to lighten a very heavy evening. The comic relief that came out of that incident proved to boost the morale of everyone on staff. One of the weary doctors even woke his wife at three in the morning, when he arrived home from his shift, to tell her the story. She, in turn, laughingly told her Pastor the next day, not realizing that he had been one of the men involved.

The thoughtfulness and concern of these two men, not only saved a woman’s life but also restored the confidence, courage and commitment of a group of rather tired and disheartened professionals. Hip, Hip Hooray for Glynn and Marcus in their rescue of the Woman with the Frozen Arm.