{"id":3593,"date":"2020-04-25T11:26:04","date_gmt":"2020-04-25T15:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/?p=3593"},"modified":"2020-05-09T15:07:38","modified_gmt":"2020-05-09T19:07:38","slug":"a-house-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/2020\/04\/25\/a-house-call\/","title":{"rendered":"House Call"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/a>

Worn to protect him from passing motorists, Joe’s roadside armor now includes a surgical face mask.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

By Brooke Loomis<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the color and model of your car?\u201d Joe asked over the phone.<\/p>\n

“Red Nissan Murano,” I answered.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A few minutes later, he confidently drove his truck the wrong direction on a one-way street and parked in front of my Murano. He turned on the orange flashing light\u00a0<\/span>on\u00a0<\/span>the truck\u2019s roof, signaling to the neighbors that my car was <\/span>asking\u00a0<\/span>for the attention of AAA.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
I waved hello, and he responded with a smile. Then <\/span>he <\/span>slipped on a blue mask and matching plastic gloves\u2014<\/span>a\u00a0<\/span>proper greeting <\/span>in\u00a0<\/span>our current situation<\/span>. He stepped out of the pickup truck. His full armor consisted of a neon yellow shirt and navy pants with complimentary yellow stripes around the ankles. His face was soft and creased.\u00a0 His gentle demeanor <\/span>exuded <\/span>age and wisdom.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry it took me so long to get here. I got caught in the wind and rain this morning. The trees were blowing, and branches were coming down. I didn\u2019t think I would make it out of the town I was in. But how can I help you?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
He stood with a puzzled look on his face, most likely from my subpar explanation of my car problems. He lifted the hood of the Murano, carefully inspected the insides, and forgot the world around\u00a0<\/span>him<\/span>. He needed focus to properly care for the patient.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Joe lifted a large <\/span>dark\u00a0<\/span>box out of his car and proceeded to connect thick wires from the box to the patient\u2019s <\/span>energy source<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
I hoped for a spare heartbeat in the box. For the capability of transferring life. For the doctor to use the necessary <\/span>time and <\/span>equipment until he could say, \u201cma\u2019am<\/span>, <\/span>surgery went well. The patient is expected to make a full recovery.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
I sat in the driver\u2019s seat, key in ignition and gave it a twist. Nothing but a small growl.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll let it charge a bit. Give it about 10 minutes.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
He sounded confident, assured. He had no skin in the game, but his reputation was on the line. I decided to trust his knowledge.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
We talked while the patient battled for his health.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m actually retired<\/span>,<\/span>\u201d Joe said. \u201cThe company asked me to come back after someone quit this week. So, I\u2019m just doing this for fun\u00a0<\/span>but today was very busy.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
I sat in the driver\u2019s seat and proceeded: ignition, key, twist. This time the patient awoke with a roar. A full recovery.\u00a0 Thank you, Joe.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
He smiled and wasted no time with discharge testing.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll see what the car\u2019s battery life is.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Grunts and groans emerged from below the hood. \u201cMy fingers are too fat, and my eyes are too old for this<\/span>,<\/span>\u201d <\/span>he said, <\/span>as he fiddled with an electronic screen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
After many minutes, Joe apologized for the unpredictability of his tablet and his electronics ability. He disregarded the patient\u2019s post-test and proceeded to state <\/span>the <\/span>necessary aftercare.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll have to run your car for at least 20 minutes every other day. Letting it sit for long periods of time drains the battery.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
I thought about my car sitting in the street for weeks. Untouched and unused. The stay<\/span>–<\/span>at<\/span>–<\/span>home order has kept me inside. This has never been an issue. The restriction of mobility and freedom. My car used as a means to socialize, interact\u2014the bridge to humanity. Now it sits on the street below me, aching and lonely.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Joe got back into his truck. He sat in the safety o<\/span>f\u00a0<\/span>the truck\u2019s perimeter. Gracefully choosing to move, socialize, and interact. Joe removed his mask and waved goodbye from behind the glass.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brooke Loomis \u201cWhat\u2019s the color and model of your car?\u201d Joe asked over the phone. “Red Nissan Murano,” I answered. A few minutes later, he confidently drove his truck the wrong direction on a one-way street and parked in front of my Murano. He turned on the orange flashing light\u00a0on\u00a0the truck\u2019s roof, signaling to Read more about House Call<\/span>[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4706,"featured_media":3702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[97665],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hershey-pa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/files\/2020\/04\/IMG_4702.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7o53H-VX","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4706"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}