What do you do when someone falls?
 

Last night biking home, a dude took a real tumble.

Just now, walking home from a jog, a lady tripped on the sidewalk and faceplanted, thankfully she is only shaken and has a bit of a bleeding nose. She said, for a second, she was terrified she'd lost her teeth.

Of course, I stopped both times to make sure they were alright and wait for an ambulance if they weren't. I know that, in this city, not everyone would do that, methinks.

The second lady was very shaken, and me with her. I should have offered to walk her home :( It's especially tough because I must speak my second language here, very little English.

I feel like I'm bad luck :(

Has this ever happened to you? I

It sounds like you handled it well! My kitchen window overlooks the street and i sometimes see kids tumble off their bikes. I go out and check on them to make sure they're ok.

I always stop to help, unless doing so is going to make a situation worse in some way (for example, I saw a car stalled out in an intersection, blocking traffic, with someone trying to push it to the sidewalk...there was no way for me to stop to help without further impeding flow of traffic). I have seen people take some pretty horrific falls and usually am prepared (well, really, OVER-prepared with first aid kit, aspirin for heart attacks, and etc in my car) to be of some assistance.

That was so sweet of you :) You're not bad luck, they would've fallen, anyway. You handled it much better than I would've. I tend to laugh when stuff like that happens.

Why on earth would you laugh at someone taking a serious fall?

I think you did the right thing. You never know when someone may have broken a bone or some other injury needing medical aid.

I am usually the one doing the falling! I took a digger coming down a set of stairs that lead to the entrance of my work building. I felt pretty stupid... but I feel down a flight of stairs. I got up and looked around, waiting for someone to ask if I was ok. There were a bunch of people that walked by me and didn't say anything. I was shocked.

I mean - I would much rather embarrass someone by asking them if they are ok than to not ask and them not to be ok.

I recently saw an elderly lady take a tumble out of her motorized scooter-chair into a lane of traffic while she was crossing at a stoplight. The light changed and the motorists near her just drove around her and away while she was sprawled there in the street in front of them! Unbelievable.

I was on the opposite side of a divided highway and swung a u-turn to go back and help her but by the time I did that, a middle-aged man had stopped to help her.

I fall a lot. My worst falls were off of a bike and while running. Both times people came to my aid, but I was writhing in pain so I wasn't too friendly. Both times, I was pretty hurt, but didn't break anything.

I think it's a good idea to stop to see if somebody hasn't broken a bone.

One time I stopped when a man was in critical condition after passing out in a car. It was terrifying, but I was able to get an ambulance. And I stayed with him. There were plenty of onlookers, but I was the only one with nursing training. Thank God he had a steady pulse, but his breathing was bad. After that incident, I realized that I need to get my CPR certification renewed.

I've been on both ends of that stick. I fell on the sidewalk here in Brooklyn a couple of months ago, bruised up my arms and legs quite a bit. No one was very close to me at the time, but a guy walking by who eventually reached me asked me if I was ok (I basically was). I find that in NYC people do stop and ask and will help. Another time I fell on a very snowy evening, two people stopped to help me.

Yes, I would stop and ask and help if needed if I saw anyone fall. Once, in the park here in Brooklyn on a very hot day, a young woman jogging sort of collapsed on the grass. Bf and I stopped (we were about to share a sandwich on a bench), got her some water, cleaned her up, and told her to take it easy! ha. I would have taken her home, but she didn't have any air conditioning, and I thought she'd be better off resting on the grass under a tree. It was nicer in the park.

I'd stop to help them, it's just the right thing to do.

You are not bad luck :) They would have fallen if you weren't around.

As someone who has done my share of tripping and face planting, I think it is nice when someone asks "Hey, you okay?" but then if I am able to walk or run, I don't really want any other attention after that cause it's really embarassing. Although I'm not sure why it is so embarassing. Everyone face plants sometimes, right?

Um, right? :lol:

Anyway, I think it is always better to ask out of kindness and concern than to ignore the situation, especially if it appears to be serious.

I have lived one street up from a 55 and older area since '79...I have helped many a fallen...."lost/confused"... person over those years....even had one come to my house a "lost/confused" person a few months ago.

In fact found another...and returned...lost little dog yesterday on our walk....pets are always getting out in their neighborhood.

i did a very public face plant- hard! smashed my nose- huge bloody mess. and right as i got off the bus, the driver of course wasn't gonna stop for me. but i had to walk to work- covered in blood and sobbing about 4 blocks. tons of people driving by not one of them did more then stare at me. a-holes.

it happened a couple years ago and i'm still mad nobody helped me. jerks.