It was a Thursday afternoon; that day my brother and I were spending the day with my grandmother in downtown Oak Park. We were walking (well, my brother and I were walking and my grandmother was rolling along in her wheelchair) to my grandmother’s doctor’s appointment, it was about 80 degrees Fahrenheit, the sky was clear and the birds were chirping.
After the doctor’s appointment we headed to Cozy Corner. We were walking on the sidewalk as it narrowed because of construction, which we did not notice. One, there was no sign. And two, you would think the sidewalk would be wide enough. My grandmother was rolling on the outside of the sidewalk, basically on the curb I was walking behind her ready to stop the chair if it went overboard, and my brother was walking closest to the construction. There was a small yell and a quick grab of the wheelchair before it tipped completely on its side. The back wheel of my grandmother’s wheelchair went over the curb.
My brother only being 10 and I trying to help my grandmother, there wasn’t much we could do. A man with a briefcase walked past us without acknowledging our presence, a couple in their late 20s or early 30s past us, and two teenage girls passed us only to turn around within 2-3 seconds and come to the rescue. While I helped my grandmother stand, the two teenage girls helped get the wheelchair into the street so we could walk back to the nearest crosswalk and cross over to the other side of the street.
We said thank you and went our separate ways. After my brother, grandmother and I were across the street, my grandmother said, “My heart is beating 70 miles a minute. Thank God those girls came along to help.” OK, maybe it’s not the exact words, but it’s pretty darn close. We had our lunch and went on the rest of the day like we would normally.
Now, my grandmother was going to go to the doctor by herself. What if the same thing would have happened except those two girls didn’t go by, I wasn’t there to stop the wheelchair from tipping all the way and my brother wasn’t there to comfort her? Would my grandmother be in the hospital with her head cracked open or with a concussion? Would anyone stop to help her? Would anyone hear her scream out as her head crashed to the concrete?
I wrote this because there could be something done and this wouldn’t happen. There could’ve been a sign indicating that the sidewalk narrows or a detour sidewalk. Oak Park is at fault for this little incident.
Alyce DeBlase is a 15-year-old resident of Danbury, Wis., who formerly lived in Berwyn. Her grandmother lives in Oak Park.