After his grandma's fall, 11-yr-old couldn't get help via phone—then he turned to Zoom class and it saved her
Sometimes, the regular ways of getting help during emergencies might not work as we wish. An 11-year-old Kaleb Greenough, who saw his grandma fall down, couldn't connect with help through a phone either. Coincidentally, it was time for the boy's Zoom class back in 2020 at Parkwood Elementary School. He made a quick decision that made sure his grandmother got help and all of them were safe. Kaleb also managed to maintain his composure during the incident and impressed the adults, per WCNC Charlotte.
The boy was late for his online class one fine day and his teacher was a little worried as such a thing didn't happen with Kaleb often. But actually, he was trying his best to get help for his grandmother, who had fallen down. As there was no one else at home, the boy couldn't do anything but weigh all his options. "She walked over and she tripped because she can't hold herself that up for that long and she fell," Kaleb recounted. "She didn't try to get up because I knew if she would have gotten up, she would have hurt herself worse." The woman, Sherri Bell, suffered from blindness and was on kidney dialysis, so her grandson was really worried for her.
Kaleb immediately tried to reach out to family for help over the phone. Unfortunately, it was not working. With no other option in sight, Kaleb logged into his art class on Zoom with Ms. Janel Maclean and asked for her help. "He was so calm and collected, but I could tell that he wanted to speak with me, so I just said, like, 'Hey Caleb, what's up?' And he messaged on the chat, can you please call my mom for me?" Janel explained. The teacher couldn't reach out to the mom either, so she called the school's principal. The principal, Melissa Yount-Ott, immediately joined the Zoom call to understand Kaleb's situation better. "I was really focused on asking Kaleb questions, trying to really determine what the situation was. I needed to know if we needed to call 911."
They called for an ambulance as the boy kept trying to keep his grandmother engaged. "He was just so kind with her. And I could tell that she was stressed and upset as well, but he was able to calm her," Maclean remarked. The ambulance arrived for the woman soon enough and her grandson waved it over, so they could find the house. The teacher and principal were super impressed by Kaleb's handling of the situation. "His confidence and his pride in the whole situation was just very, very impressive," Yount-Ott pointed out.
The grandmother recovered well at the hospital. "It was just really neat to see our community and our school come together like that to help him out," Maclean went on. All of them were really happy that the Zoom class turned out in their favor and helped save the grandmom's life, which wouldn't have been possible otherwise. The teacher was a little worried at first because she had never dealt with a situation like this before, per KSDK News. "I was a little bit more panicked because I don't ever deal with a situation like this," the teacher shared. She was glad that everything was okay at the end.