Web chat 911 saves life
As an antidote to the dreadfully sad story blogged by Jeneane about the live online death of Brandon Vedas, comes this remarkable story of Darlene Laurie, net-savvy grandmother who suffered a minor stroke whilst chatting online and was rescued as a result of people in 10 states of the US working together to track down her address and alert the RCMP.
From today's Globe & Mail:
"Someone in Pennsylvania had a phone number for Ms. Laurie; someone in Connecticut had an address. Someone in Kennewick, Wash., contacted the RCMP in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby.
The police sent a patrol car to Ms. Laurie's home and, after receiving no response, the Mounties forced their way in.
Less than two hours after she lost consciousness, Ms. Laurie, who is housebound with an autoimmune disease that is progressively damaging her eyes, kidney and heart, was under medical care at a local hospital for a minor stroke.
A lot of people dismiss a computer as an impersonal machine, Ms Laurie said yesterday in an interview. "It is not. There are real feelings in there."
That's it. A Small Piece, Loosely Joined - kept alive by the connections.
As an antidote to the dreadfully sad story blogged by Jeneane about the live online death of Brandon Vedas, comes this remarkable story of Darlene Laurie, net-savvy grandmother who suffered a minor stroke whilst chatting online and was rescued as a result of people in 10 states of the US working together to track down her address and alert the RCMP.
From today's Globe & Mail:
"Someone in Pennsylvania had a phone number for Ms. Laurie; someone in Connecticut had an address. Someone in Kennewick, Wash., contacted the RCMP in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby.
The police sent a patrol car to Ms. Laurie's home and, after receiving no response, the Mounties forced their way in.
Less than two hours after she lost consciousness, Ms. Laurie, who is housebound with an autoimmune disease that is progressively damaging her eyes, kidney and heart, was under medical care at a local hospital for a minor stroke.
A lot of people dismiss a computer as an impersonal machine, Ms Laurie said yesterday in an interview. "It is not. There are real feelings in there."
That's it. A Small Piece, Loosely Joined - kept alive by the connections.
