A Bad Break, But the Right Place
April 12 was a beautiful day. What could be better than a bike ride on the Struble Trail!! It was my birthday and I was going to celebrate with a bike ride then I was going to work in my garden and later go out to dinner (Susanna Foo’s in Radnor) with my family.
I parked my car across from the Milltown Shopping Center and started my bike ride. I get such a kick out of the alligator heads (or are they crocodiles) that are in the ponds. I have not figured out who or what they are supposed to keep away. Two white swans were floating gracefully on one of the ponds.
As I neared the intersection of the trail and Norwood Road, I stopped to wait for traffic to clear next to a young man enjoying the weather on his bike too. While waiting, I lost my balance, fell off my bike with my ankle catching on my bike. I heard the snap but knew absolutely that my ankle was broken when I saw it flopping about like a dead fish.
The young man asked if I was okay and I was forced to admit I was not. This is tough to admit for a person of my generation who was raised on the “tight upper lip”. A young woman asked if I wanted her to get her cell phone from her car which was nearby. She called 911 for me. Other people had bicycled up by now. They provided me with company and water until the ambulance came. They also tried to figure out how to get my bike back to my car. The solution arrived with the arrival of the Downingtown Policeman responding to the 911. He offered to take it to the police station and keep there until I could pick it.
The ambulance arrived quickly. The EMTs took good care of me. It was also the birthday of one of the EMTs. At the Brandywine Hospital, the ER attendants took good care of me as did the nurses and the surgeon the next day.
But the most important point I have to make is that whereI fell was easy for the ambulance to get to. If I had been further along the trail, even to the Dorlan Mill end, it would have taken them forever. Why? Because there is no access or very limited access at that end.
So my thank you to all those good people from Minquas Fire department and especially to those who “hung” with until the ambulance arrived.
Sarah Caspar
scaspar@comcast.net
