Thanks for post that bea. It heartwarming to hear we have kids that care for other like that.
Up Beat News
Some positive upbeat news
Snow Angels
Spider-Man, schmeider-man. In Alaska, the all-girl Dragon Slayers race to the rescue.
"After a bad call, we talk, cry and give a big group hug," says Patty Yaska (left, with harpoon, on the Kuskokwim River with other Dragon Slayers and the novice Lizard Killers).
(Axel Koester)
At 10:20 a.m. on what passes for a balmy spring day in Aniak, Alaska -- 20 degrees, blinding snow -- Volunteer Fire Chief Pete Brown radios his emergency medical team to meet him at the home of George Peterson, an octogenarian who is struggling for breath. Minutes later, Brown, 57, and his colleagues arrive at Peterson's bedside. "What's wrong with me?" asks the frail man with congestive heart failure. "It hurts."
"We're going to give you some oxygen," Dione Turner tells him in a soothing voice. "It will make you feel better," promises Patty Yaska, hooking him up to the canister. Soon Peterson feels revived enough to banter with his rescuers and to notice that they are astonishingly young. As Patty and Dione, both 17, depart, he turns to his son Ray, who placed the 911 call, and asks, "Who were those girls?" Replies Ray: "They're the Dragon Slayers."
A team of seven high school girls, the angels of Aniak provide the only round-the-clock emergency medical care available to 3,000 people in 14 villages across an area the size of Maryland. At an age when many of their peers are obsessing over glitter eye shadow, these volunteer EMTs -- each of whom has 200 hours of medical and fire-safety training under her belt -- respond to 450 calls a year. The youngest Dragon Slayer, 14-year-old Erinn Marteney, pulled a toddler from a burning home the day after Christmas. Mariah Brown, 17 (Pete's daughter), was once bitten by a drunken man as she dressed his wounds. Team members have revived fellow teens who tried to kill themselves and grandmothers in cardiac arrest. They have rescued a villager who fell through ice, snowmobilers injured in collisions and survivors of small-plane crashes. "It really changes how you are as a person," says Erica Kameroff, 16.
Getting to the victims -- most of whom, like the Dragon Slayers, are Yupik Eskimos and Athabascan Indians -- is a challenge in itself: No roads connect Aniak, 350 miles west of Anchorage and surrounded by rivers, to the rest of Alaska. Through early May the team uses frozen waterways as thoroughfares, traveling in snowmobiles and four-wheel-drive vehicles. In warmer months, when the ice thaws, they often rely on boats.
Snow Angels
Spider-Man, schmeider-man. In Alaska, the all-girl Dragon Slayers race to the rescue.
"After a bad call, we talk, cry and give a big group hug," says Patty Yaska (left, with harpoon, on the Kuskokwim River with other Dragon Slayers and the novice Lizard Killers).
(Axel Koester)
At 10:20 a.m. on what passes for a balmy spring day in Aniak, Alaska -- 20 degrees, blinding snow -- Volunteer Fire Chief Pete Brown radios his emergency medical team to meet him at the home of George Peterson, an octogenarian who is struggling for breath. Minutes later, Brown, 57, and his colleagues arrive at Peterson's bedside. "What's wrong with me?" asks the frail man with congestive heart failure. "It hurts."
"We're going to give you some oxygen," Dione Turner tells him in a soothing voice. "It will make you feel better," promises Patty Yaska, hooking him up to the canister. Soon Peterson feels revived enough to banter with his rescuers and to notice that they are astonishingly young. As Patty and Dione, both 17, depart, he turns to his son Ray, who placed the 911 call, and asks, "Who were those girls?" Replies Ray: "They're the Dragon Slayers."
A team of seven high school girls, the angels of Aniak provide the only round-the-clock emergency medical care available to 3,000 people in 14 villages across an area the size of Maryland. At an age when many of their peers are obsessing over glitter eye shadow, these volunteer EMTs -- each of whom has 200 hours of medical and fire-safety training under her belt -- respond to 450 calls a year. The youngest Dragon Slayer, 14-year-old Erinn Marteney, pulled a toddler from a burning home the day after Christmas. Mariah Brown, 17 (Pete's daughter), was once bitten by a drunken man as she dressed his wounds. Team members have revived fellow teens who tried to kill themselves and grandmothers in cardiac arrest. They have rescued a villager who fell through ice, snowmobilers injured in collisions and survivors of small-plane crashes. "It really changes how you are as a person," says Erica Kameroff, 16.
Getting to the victims -- most of whom, like the Dragon Slayers, are Yupik Eskimos and Athabascan Indians -- is a challenge in itself: No roads connect Aniak, 350 miles west of Anchorage and surrounded by rivers, to the rest of Alaska. Through early May the team uses frozen waterways as thoroughfares, traveling in snowmobiles and four-wheel-drive vehicles. In warmer months, when the ice thaws, they often rely on boats.
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I read about these young folks in Reader's Digest about 6 months ago. It's heartwarming. These folks are our future
I like the idea of this thread, thanks for starting it.
I like the idea of this thread, thanks for starting it.
Hi guys,
Thank you both Hewee , Bruce. I too am tired and disheartened listening to, reading and seeing nothing but rape, murder, road rage, madness and war and the atrocities that "human beings" can inflict on others. I want to see positive proactive evidence that the milk of human kindness is not completely sour
Thank you both
Hewee , Bruce. I too am tired and disheartened listening to, reading and seeing nothing but rape, murder, road rage, madness and war and the atrocities that "human beings" can inflict on others. I want to see positive proactive evidence that the milk of human kindness is not completely sour Great article and great idea ie this thread
Thanks Bea for the uplift. It helps to read some good stuff for a change especially when everything on the news is a downer. I also think it's great that these young people have the maturity and desire to help people. The future leadership in Alaska looks great.
Originally posted by n2gun:
Great article and great idea ie this thread
Thanks n2gun is n2 your nickname or do you like to be called by your full name Mr. Gun Bea
Thanks MaryOriginally posted by littlemar:
Thanks Bea for the uplift. It helps to read some good stuff for a change especially when everything on the news is a downer. I also think it's great that these young people have the maturity and desire to help people. The future leadership in Alaska looks great.
I feel the same wayWe here at TSG of course have not only the milk of human kindness in abundance. but are the cream of the crop
thank you all
You're welcome!
G
Hello,
Lovely to read about these people. Why do you think they chose a name involved slaying? when they are so involved with saving life. Slaying problems, do you think?
T2
Lovely to read about these people. Why do you think they chose a name involved slaying? when they are so involved with saving life. Slaying problems, do you think?
T2
Hi T2Originally posted by Tuppence2:
Hello,
Lovely to read about these people. Why do you think they chose a name involved slaying? when they are so involved with saving life. Slaying problems, do you think?
T2
I believe it is because in folk lore dragon slayers were knights in shining armor
and they went out to slay the dragons (metaphorically speaking The bad guys) ?
Bea
Probably goes back to St George! And that was probably based on earlier thoughts and ideas! The dragon has long been seen in many cultures as a synonym for evil in one form or another.
Just take a look in Google at all the entries related to the fight against one 'evil' or another that you get by searching "slaying the dragon" (include " marks).
Mike
Just take a look in Google at all the entries related to the fight against one 'evil' or another that you get by searching "slaying the dragon" (include " marks).
Mike
A Second Wind for Seniors
Millions of seniors confined to nursing homes struggle to keep depression at bay. 80% have no visitors. Imagine a program that asked residents, What would make you happy? and then granted those wishes.
That is the mission of Second Wind Dreams --to inspire nursing homes across the world to create Dream Weavers out of staff members.
Many times a new dress, a radio, a trip to a fishing hole or the ball park is all that is needed to create a connection to their past that gives a feeling of security, peace and happiness. Some dreams cost less than $25.00 but generate truly life-altering experiences. Mae Bailey, 61, is blind and disabled by the ravages of diabetes. Her wish? To relive the excitement she experienced as a youngster riding the seven cyclones at Six Flags Amusement Park. When her Dream Weaver took her to the park, she rode, not one, not two - but all seven of the park's cyclones!
P.K. Beville, PhD, founded the program in 1997 and fulfills her overall intention every day -- to improve the perception of aging. When dreams are fulfilled in any of the 400 participating facilities in 38 states, India and Canada, Beville reports there are profound changes of attitudes in both residents and staff.
In one example many of the women wanted to cook again and, cook FOR someone. So, a long table was set up in December for making holiday cookies for the staff. Magic ensued. The ladies went to work each to their own task. Suddenly, there were no wheelchairs, crippled hands, dementia or tremors. There were women making goodies in kitchens' past with sisters and mothers. And then, from one end of the table a lone voice began to sing, Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, please to put a penny in the old man's hat. As the song was picked up all around the table, the joy of a caroling session arose. We weren't in a nursing home at all. The power of the dream had transcended reality.
An even more profound wish was that of a 92-year-old woman who had lived her entire life with crossed eyes. Her family, never sympathetic to the disability, even ridiculed her desire to change that upsetting aspect of her appearance. At last, SWD found one eye surgeon who willingly performed the simple surgical procedure and undid what had been the source of a lifetime of despair!
Call 678-624-0500 for info on how to become a Dream Weaver in your town. www.secondwind.org
Makes me smile Bea
Millions of seniors confined to nursing homes struggle to keep depression at bay. 80% have no visitors. Imagine a program that asked residents, What would make you happy? and then granted those wishes.
That is the mission of Second Wind Dreams --to inspire nursing homes across the world to create Dream Weavers out of staff members.
Many times a new dress, a radio, a trip to a fishing hole or the ball park is all that is needed to create a connection to their past that gives a feeling of security, peace and happiness. Some dreams cost less than $25.00 but generate truly life-altering experiences. Mae Bailey, 61, is blind and disabled by the ravages of diabetes. Her wish? To relive the excitement she experienced as a youngster riding the seven cyclones at Six Flags Amusement Park. When her Dream Weaver took her to the park, she rode, not one, not two - but all seven of the park's cyclones!
P.K. Beville, PhD, founded the program in 1997 and fulfills her overall intention every day -- to improve the perception of aging. When dreams are fulfilled in any of the 400 participating facilities in 38 states, India and Canada, Beville reports there are profound changes of attitudes in both residents and staff.
In one example many of the women wanted to cook again and, cook FOR someone. So, a long table was set up in December for making holiday cookies for the staff. Magic ensued. The ladies went to work each to their own task. Suddenly, there were no wheelchairs, crippled hands, dementia or tremors. There were women making goodies in kitchens' past with sisters and mothers. And then, from one end of the table a lone voice began to sing, Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, please to put a penny in the old man's hat. As the song was picked up all around the table, the joy of a caroling session arose. We weren't in a nursing home at all. The power of the dream had transcended reality.
An even more profound wish was that of a 92-year-old woman who had lived her entire life with crossed eyes. Her family, never sympathetic to the disability, even ridiculed her desire to change that upsetting aspect of her appearance. At last, SWD found one eye surgeon who willingly performed the simple surgical procedure and undid what had been the source of a lifetime of despair!
Call 678-624-0500 for info on how to become a Dream Weaver in your town. www.secondwind.org
Makes me smile Bea
Talking about Dragons, we're not all evil you know.
Wales 2 Italy 1. hee hee.
![]()
We're going to Portugal.
Wales 2 Italy 1. hee hee.
We're going to Portugal.
Attachments
Originally posted by Moby:
Talking about Dragons, we're not all evil you know.
Wales 2 Italy 1. hee hee.
![]()
We're going to Portugal.
Well I guess if Vampires can become good guys so can dragons
Bea
G
Hello there,
Thanks for the info regarding "dragon slayers"
T2
Thanks for the info regarding "dragon slayers"
T2
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