Seth is a resource pool nurse with the Flex Pool. Last Thursday, Seth was assigned to work in the CVICU. I was told that Seth had called on his way to work to let us know that he would be late due to an accident. His patients were assigned to other nurses as we waited for him to arrive. Seth came into work around 8:20 am that morning. He later told me what had happened to him that morning, which just about brought me to tears. Seth told me that he had been following a gentleman who was swerving on the road for several miles, and then he watched him swerve into a very deep ditch. Seth pulled over to help the man. As he looked through the vehicle, which was partially underwater, he could not see anyone. He began to hear a splashing sound and gurgling. Seth waded through the water in the ditch and then found the gentleman pinned underwater, struggling to get free. Seth pulled the man out of the water to the bank. A trucker and a pregnant woman saw Seth’s vehicle and came to his assistance. He asked the woman to call 911 and told the trucker to give directions to their location. EMS arrived and transported the gentleman to the hospital.

Seth went back home to bathe and change his clothes. Seth then got on the road again to come to work, full of many emotions, I am sure. Many nurses may have just called out after an experience of this nature, but not Seth. He arrived in CVICU and received a report on his assignments. The next thing that happened sent chills up my spine as Seth told me that the man who was pulled from the ditch was his patient’s brother-in-law. For Seth to be assigned to CVICU and assigned to this man’s family member was an act of divine intervention. He could have been assigned to any of the five ICUs and any of the 26 patients in CVICU, but he was assigned to where this gentleman’s family would hear how their loved one was not just left behind, but someone cared enough to trench through muddy water to find him and bring him up out of the water.

Seth was definitely in the right place at the right time that day. If he had not been behind this gentleman when he swerved off the road, he would have drowned, as the vehicle was not visible from the road once he went into the ditch. I pray that the family will have some peace knowing that Seth was there to help their loved one in his time of need.