As my parents aged, my father's health declined, and his diabetes and seizures were problematic at times. No matter how hard he and my mother tried, his diabetes was hard to control.
Consequently, there were multiple times when he had a problem, either with his diabetes or seizures, and the paramedics had to be called. I did not live near where my parents lived during this phase of their life. But from everything my mother said, the response of the emergency responders, was appropriate, timely, helpful, and sympathetic.
Tonight I had a scare: the fan for my air conditioner was making noises, and started to smell like smoke. I called 911, and was directed to the fire department. They told me to evacuate the building, which was quite a trick as Sake was very resistant to being put in a crate. I did not have a crate for Taki, but this tells me, if I have 3 cats, I need 3 crates.
The fire department took less than 5 minutes to reach my house. There were 3 trucks that responded, but as it was obvious there was no fire, 2 left fairly quickly... The firemenn who stayed check the back yard, the fuse box, the heater/air conditioner unit. They were very kind and said that they respond to these kinds of calls regularly. They told me to leave the air conditioner off, and call a repair service in the morning, to get the motor of the fan repaired.
A couple of years ago, our director had a roof fire because of an air conditioner, that basically destroyed the roof and caused major damage to her home. That was some of what I thought about tonight when I called the fire department.
Last summer, a friend of mine experienced having her air conditioner just be not functional. The replacement process took several days, which was torturous for her, as she had no relief in her home. I am hoping that repairing/replacing the fan will not take too long, and we will have air conditioning really soon, as the heat in Lubbock right now, is unbearable. If I can not get repairs soon, I will have to buy a window unit (there are plugs in the house for them, I hope they are workable) to survive.
I am so grateful that I live in a society in which we have such safe guards and help.... I wish all of our residents, even the unschooled, mentally ill, and other wise unconnected with society had these safe guards.
I am in hopes that those of you who read this do something for the homeless of your community who have no relief from temperature extremes..
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