The ambulance service

continues to astound me.
Yesterday morning there was a call from the Senior Cat's bedroom.
 I found him sitting on the floor.
    "I haven't hurt myself. Could you get one of the neighbours...."
    "No. Middle Cat said we must press your beeper." 
His "beeper" is the alarm which calls the ambulance service. The Senior Cat did not want to bother them. He was all right. All he needed was someone to help him stand up.
I helped one of the neigbours do it some weeks ago. It was not an easy task. The Senior Cat has had two knee replacements and two shoulder replacements. He cannot kneel and his shoulders cannot be pulled on. Middle Cat is absolutely right. I didn't want to try again. I didn't want to do it the previous time but I had just heard two ambulances leave the station about a kilometre from here and knew that it might be a long time before help came.
Yesterday morning though I pressed the button. About fifteen seconds later I was talking to someone.
    "I'm sorry to bother you," I told her, "But...." I explained the situation. "It's not urgent. He can sit there. He's lucid. I've done a neurological check and he says nothing hurts."
    "No bleeding?"
    "No, only his dignity."
I could hear her smile as she said, "We'll send someone over as soon as we can. Just get his medication together."
I knew why and I knew the Senior Cat was going to be even more embarrassed but I also knew why it needed to be done.
     "Right," I told him, "They'll be here as soon as they can and they'll take you in to check you out."
     "I don't need to go to hospital!"
     "Yes, you do," I told him. He grumbled. I got him a blanket to stay warm.
They came about forty minutes later, a man and a woman.  They agreed with me that there was likely nothing wrong but, because of the medication he is on, yes they would take him in.
     "You're 96," the male officer told him, "We don't take risks. There's no ramping at ......    You'll be home in a couple of hours."
I went with him. As it wasn't an emergency rush this time the female officer drove and I sat in the front and we talked about communicating with patients. 
We were at the hospital and into a bay almost immediately. It was fairly quiet. The Senior Cat kept apologising to everyone.
    "That's what we are here for."
The ambulance officers both looked in to check and say goodbye.
I wondered what the rest of their day would bring.
In the Emergency Department there was a real emergency while we were there. I was very glad that the Senior Cat's attention was distracted and that he couldn't hear what was going on. I could hear the hurrying, not-quite-running, footsteps and the frantic beepers going off and I could hear the voices and the words. There were tears and phone calls being made.
A little later the same staff came to speak to the Senior Cat. They had just lost a patient but they were still kind and caring and willing to smile at him.
My nephew, the doctor one, came to pick us up because he had borrowed the car to tow something that morning. He knows some of the ED staff.
    "Your grandfather is lovely," I heard one of them say.
We bundled the still apologising Senior Cat into the car after he had thanked everyone yet again.
I thanked them too.
On the way home I totalled it up. There were eight people outside family who helped the Senior Cat yesterday morning. Every one of them was competent, caring and kind -  and four of them did not speak English as their first language.
We have an extraordinary service here - and I am very grateful for it.