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Great heroism in the face of death
In November, California was hit with its worst fires ever.
During this disaster, Paradise, a community of 27,000 people at the Sierra Nevada foothills, was engulfed in flames, some the size of 20-story buildings.
As the fiery embers rained down, this would soon include the Cypress Meadows nursing facility, with 91-frail stroke or Alzheimer’s victims and their caregivers.
Firefighters were overwhelmed and could not get to them. What were they going to do?
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Rather than flee to save their own lives, the caregivers stayed, using wheelchairs and walkers to load the 91-patients and their vital medical records, into their personal vehicles.
But with the fires raging and people fleeing, the highways and roads gridlocked.
Yet in one remarkable example of heroism, Cyprus Meadows official Sheila Craft took three patients in her heavy-duty vehicle to off-road down the terrain.
But on this perilous journey, she blew a tire, and had no jack to change it.
Frantic, Sheila turned into a Safeway parking lot. Suddenly pulling up to her was a little electric powered Ford driven by Nate Reich of Safeway.
He somehow got Sheila and her three frail passengers into his little car, and drove them to safety as the Safeway exploded in flames.
Today, Paradise is gone.
But 91-people and their caregivers live-on, a testament to the caregivers’ great compassion and courage.
Editor's Note:
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