This is a city with a heart

This is a city with a heart

My parents, Bryan and Dor- othy Treible, were involved in an accident on May 25 on I-80 on their way to New York from Indiana. Their truck and camper rolled over near Liberty. My mother was airlifted to St. Elizabeth with severe injuries to her arm and neck along with multiple lacerations. My dad was taken via ambulance to St. Elizabeth also. He suffered four broken ribs as well as many lacerations. They rolled four times down an embankment. They are 70 and 71 years of age.

At the scene there was a man, a nurse who was there immediately. He must have witnessed the accident. My parents remember his voice so calmly telling them what to do to stop the bleeding. He could not reach them, they were trapped. We don’t know who he is or where he came from but, we believe he saved my mom’s life.

I live in San Antonio, Texas, my brother in Chandler, Ariz., my sister in Las Vegas, Nev. When our family was made aware of the accident I immediately called the hospital. I was treated ever so gently from the receptionist that answered the phone to the nurses and staff caring for them.

When I called Sorice’s Towing, I spoke to the owner, Bill, and he was such a kind man and a total professional. I told a man named Mike, who works for Bill, that my parents had lost all their personal belongings in the accident and that we were concerned about my mom’s purse and dad’s wallet. Mike took the time to look in what was left of the vehicle. No luck. He then called me on my cell phone to tell me he drove to the accident scene and was searching down the hill and in the culvert. He found just about everything — cell phone, credit cards, pictures.

After a week or so in the hospital, my mom was having a tough time without her eyeglasses.I called a Lenscrafters there in Youngstown and spoke to Russ, the manager. I had her prescription faxed to Russ and asked him to call me when he was done making the glasses so I could give him a credit card to pay for them and have them delivered to the hospital. He called me back within two hours and told me he had just left the hospital where he had delivered the glasses to my mother. She said she could see better with her new glasses than her other pair, and that they were beautiful. I was overwhelmed. My mother cried. When told Russ I was ready to pay for the glasses, he said, “No, they are on us.”

There are really no words for the kindness and generosity that Youngstown showed my family during what could have been the worst experience of our lives. In turn it showed us, as a family, that there is a lot to be thankful for in Youngstown.

Wendy Barker, San Antonio, Texas

The writer’s parents were released from St. Elizabeth June 16 and are back in Indiana where Mrs. Treible is in a rehab facility and Mr. Treible is home healing.