Woman thrown from scooter thanks strangers who helped

A Buchans woman is thankful for the kindness of strangers after a tumble last week left her helpless.

Edye Quinton was using her mobility scooter on a gravel path near a shopping mall in Grand Falls-Windsor, a route she had travelled many times before.

I would have been in a real pickle if they had not been there. There is no way I could have uprighted myself.- Edye Quinton

The area was in rougher condition than usual, though.

"Once I was on it I realized there were very deep grooves on it and I thought 'well, maybe I shouldn't have done this,'" Quinton said.

"I came up right beside a truck of some workers from Grand Falls-Windsor," she said. "They were having their lunch and I said to them 'hey, do you wanna race?' As I said that, I went into a hole and fell over and the scooter came over on top of me."

Quinton said the workers sprang into action.

They immediately went to work to secure her scooter, gather her belongings and then performed first aid to her injured arm.

Genuine concern

Quinton said the town workers — two regular employees and two summer students — expressed genuine concern.

"They were very kind, right there at my aid and wouldn't let me go until they were convinced I was okay," she said.  "I would have been in a real pickle if they had not been there. There is no way I could have uprighted myself."

A Toronto native who has lived in Newfoundland and Labrador for eight years, Quinton was doubtful she would have received the same kindness from strangers in her hometown.

"It warms your heart that people take the time to help someone else," she said. "If that happened to me in Toronto — not that there's not good people in Toronto because there are — chances are they'd walk over me to get me out of their way."

Quinton is thanking Dean Nichol, Ed Davis, Hayden Sampson and Greg Fewer and wanted to make sure the mayor and councillors of Grand Falls-Windsor were aware of their kindness.