r/randomactsofkindness • u/Few-Meaning7207 • 17d ago
Story Strangers in the Emergency waiting room...........
I recently spent some time in an emergency waiting room and over heard a lady who had been waiting her turn to be seen for an extended period of time, 4+ hrs. Within the time I was there she began to have an emtional break down. The amount of pain and frustration she was in was felt throuout the waiting area.
I was there for post op neck fusion possible issue and wasn't able to see the lady or what I heard next....
The room became quiet all of a sudden I head a very kind man's voice reassuring her and letting her know that he will be there for her for as long as she needs. He was also there to be seen. He was able to bring calmness not only to this poor lady who previously sat there alone and felt forgotten but the entire room.
This helped restored my hope in humanity.
43
u/examingmisadventures 17d ago
I and my other half were in an ER waiting room with four other families - all American but different cultural backgrounds. I’m English, and the other families were Honduran, Israeli, Chinese and German. We all waited miserably for news, smiling ruefully as the night stretched on.
A single elderly woman arrived, obviously in shock, with a Hispanic accent. The nursing assistant kindly asked if she wanted to see a priest.
She looked stricken and said “I’m Yoo-ish!”
Five Israeli heads snapped up as one. The matriarch sat next to her and they talked in Yiddish.
We were in that waiting room for three days and the support that group of families gave each other was tremendous. We ate a wide variety of food as friends and relatives of each group brought comfort. We cheered as one family left and wept with another who also departed.
It’s been 25 years and I still think of that international hodgepodge of people waiting, waiting for news of those they loved.