MARION HEIGHTS - It took a terrifying experience earlier this week for Jon Derrick to realize he could count on the kindness of others.
Derrick, 65, of Marion Heights, was walking his beagle, Schmoo, and collecting cans in a wooded area in Coal Run Tuesday afternoon when his lower right leg was cut by a broken bottle hanging on a low tree branch.
He thought at first he'd been bitten by a snake, although he wasn't surprised to learn it was a bottle as people often hang them on branches for target practice.
He looked down and saw blood spurting out of his leg just above the ankle.
"As soon as I realized it was something serious, I took my shirt off to wrap around it to stop the bleeding," Derrick said Friday in recounting the story. "The blood soaked through the shirt immediately."
Finding help
Derrick grabbed Schmoo and headed to his green Chevrolet pickup truck that, fortunately, was only about 150 yards away.
He got to his truck and the blood began to pool on the rubber floor mat as he drove off. Not wanting to take the chance of driving all the way to the hospital, he instead drove the short distance to Weis Markets, formerly Scot's Lo-Cost, at the Anthra Plaza, where he has been a regular customer since 1995 and where he gets his prescriptions filled.
"I ran right in to the pharmacy and asked them to call 911," Derrick said. The pharmacist (Chris Cummings) came over to the bench where I sat down and saw the blood pooling on the floor and went to action," bandaging the wound, he said.
The Weis staff told him AREA Services ambulance was on the way to take him to the hospital.
He was transported to Shamokin Area Community Hospital (SACH), leaving his truck with Schmoo in the bed, which is covered with a truck cap. He received 11 stitches in the emergency room.
Comforting Schmoo
Several Weis employees went to the aid of Derrick's frightened dog, doing what they could to keep him comfortable. One of the employees who helped Schmoo was Leslie Wolf.
"We got him out of the back of the truck and put him on the sidewalk and gave him water and some kibble," Wolf said. "We stayed with him to make sure he was OK. The poor thing was stuck in the back of the truck."
When Derrick was finished being treated at SACH, one of the Weis employees, Jeff Kropinski, even drove to the hospital to pick him up and bring him back to the store so he could retrieve his truck and dog.
Returns to say thanks
Weis assistant store manager Kathleen Reed said Derrick came back the very next day to thank those who had helped.
"I was glad to see him up here shopping again," Reed said Thursday.
"He was treated well at the Weis emergency room," added Kropinski with a smile.
Derrick, a retired truck driver, is thankful, and wants to recognize the Weis employees for going out of their way to help him.
"One second you are going for a walk and things can quickly change into a life-threatening situation," he said.