Last night, around 7, I answered a call from my elderly neighbor. She proceeded to tell me she'd had a "small stroke" and needed help with her phone.
Needless to say, my husband and I rushed over. Sure enough, she had all the signs.

But she didn't seem to be in dire straits or anything and she told us that she actually started having symptoms a few days ago but they were getting worse.
She absolutely did NOT want to go to the hospital though where she said they would put her alone in one of those cold rooms

We made a few phone calls to ERs and spoke to a professional and finally convinced her to go in. We gave her an extra N95, called her son who was working, and then drove her to a hospital about 40 minutes away with a neurologist on staff.

As we drove, she told me about her mother who had permanent damage from a stroke her last few years of life. She was scared. Sometimes she couldn't string her words together or I couldn't understand her as her stroke symptoms went in and out.

At the ER entrance, I gently helped her put the N95 straps over her head in the correct positions while she held the mask to her face with shaking hands.
I wasn't allowed into the ER with her. Nobody was. She would go back into triage and then have to wait by herself for a room.

She didn't want to wait by herself. She was scared. But that is our world right now. As I drove home, I thought about a couple weeks ago when we'd been potentially exposed. This same neighbor was having a bad depression day and I couldn't go over and help her. It felt awful.

I thought about my grandma who fell and broke her ribs a month ago. She had a Covid exposure at the rehab facility by her CNA because Utah has just been letting it run wild there.
Both of these women have been trying to stay so safe. Often to the detriment of their mental health.

But in the end, both found themselves in situations where they needed to be able to depend on their community and neighbors to help them without exposing them. Utah failed my grandma on that. (Luckily, she didn't get it from her exposure.)

I failed my neighbor on that 3 weeks ago and swore to myself I would never do that again. My own laxness and thinking it was fine for ME, made it so I couldn't love my neighbor in her hour of need.
But last night, I was able to assist her with confidence.

When we talk about the responsibility of the vulnerable or those who don't want to risk getting sick to stay home and let the rest of us live our lives, I hope you remember both my neighbor and my grandma.

I hope you try to imagine how awful it felt a few weeks ago to get the text from my neighbor telling me she couldn't stop crying and to have to tell her I couldn't come help.

The vulnerable don't stop being vulnerable just because they stay home. You never know when they'll need you. Trust me when I say, you'll want to be ready and able to help them without putting them at risk.