Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Quick action by teens saves diabetic girl

Glenn Hamby is well known in Pendleton as an advocate for kids. The Pendleton police officer has been part of the DARE program in Pendleton schools for many years, and recently grew out his curly locks with other members of the Pendleton police force to donate to kids battling cancer. But Hamby began his advocacy for local kids as a teenager when he and two friends saved the life of a girl on the edge of a diabetic coma in August of 1970.

Bruce Evans, a 10-year-old Pendleton boy, was wrapping up a day at the pool when he realized he couldn’t find his 9-year-old sister Sandra. The girl was diabetic and Bruce knew she could be in trouble if he couldn’t find her. He ran home and told his mother, Mrs. Dan Evans, who immediately called her husband and the police to search the North Hill area for the girl.

In the meantime, Glenn Hamby, 14, and friends Andy Palmer, 14, and Bryan Rainwater, 12, were also walking home from the pool when they saw a girl acting strangely in an empty lot, weaving and staggering. Glenn noticed a bracelet on her arm and recognized it as a medical alert bracelet from his Boy Scout training in first aid. Andy ran to find a phone to call police and Glenn found another phone to call an ambulance while Bryan remained with Sandy. The boys were waiting with her when both Gallaher and Dan Evans drove up at the same time.

Chief Gallaher and Evans put Sandy in the police car and took her to the hospital. She had passed through the diabetic convulsion stage and was sinking into a coma. After a night in the hospital, Sandy returned home and was completely recovered from her reaction.

In all the excitement, the Evanses didn’t get the names of the boys who saved Sandy’s life. Chief Gallaher had recognized Glenn, so the East Oregonian tracked down the other boys by calling his mother, Mrs. Robert Hamby. The boys were reunited with a grateful Evans family to receive their thanks.

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