‘Really, really impressive’: Student comes to the rescue
Staff writer
Feb. 4 began a normal morning for Marion junior Eldon Smith. He had just finished a statistics test in Gary Stuchlik’s class and was walking from the Hill Building to the main building for his next period. It was after the initial bell, and few people were outside, especially in such cold weather.
Then, he heard a noise behind him. An elderly woman had fallen and hit her head on asphalt.
“I didn’t see her fall, but I did hear it,” Smith said.
Smith ran across the parking lot to the woman, dialed 911, and told another nearby student, junior Sebastian Williams, to go to the high school office to get a teacher.
Smith remained with the woman while on the phone with emergency services.
“I was trying to ask her if she was OK,” he said. “I was asking her questions, seeing if she was responding. She definitely needed someone to stay with her.”
School counselor Max Venable, conducting a tour for a potential employee, was nearby and also rushed to the scene.
“When I came around the corner, [Eldon] was already there on the phone,” Venable said. “He was incredibly calm and collected. I was very impressed by his poise and his composure. … It was freezing cold that day, too.”
School secretary Erin Meyerhoff and Butler Community College’s Amy Kjellin arrived to help the woman, who was “confused and with minor amnesia,” according to an ambulance report.
The woman was Kjellin’s mother visiting her at her workplace, she said.
After about five minutes, interim police chief Zach Hudlin arrived. Hudlin remained with the woman until Marion ambulance showed up, after which she was taken to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita.
The woman returned home on Feb. 7 and will make a full recovery.
“She’s a very active senior citizen who does a lot of volunteering in the community, and she’ll get back to that very soon,” Kjellin said.
Kjellin also paid a visit to Smith on Feb. 7.
“I was able to thank him for being there right away and taking the time to help somebody,” she said. “It was like he was trained or something. He just did great.”
Smith said working with his uncle at apartments on Victory Ln. helped him remain calm.
“I’m used to being with old people,” he said.
Others at the scene agreed.
“You would have thought he had done this a thousand times before,” Venable said. “Really, really impressive.”