After a Fall, Her Biggest Concern
Several weeks ago, when Elke Grimm, 85, slipped and fell on a hardwood floor at her home overlooking Fort Pond in Montauk, her major concern was not to frighten her great-granddaughter, Parker, who is 4. Parker was the only one with her that day.
The little girl told Mrs. Grimm, “I will help you, Oma,” (German for Grandma). She tried as hard as she could to help her great-grandmother up, but couldn’t. She then brought Mrs. Grimm her walker, both of them hoping she could hoist herself up with it, but she wasn’t able to.
Mrs. Grimm told Parker to get the phone, an easy task. But then she had to ask the child to find a piece of paper with “big numbers on it,” the phone numbers of family members. After searching the house, Parker found the paper and brought it to Mrs. Grimm, who called her grandsons first.
There were no answers. She then called Debbie Coen, her home health companion. Ms. Coen was on her way out the door when she received the call and drove right over to the house on Endicott Road. When she arrived she found great-grandmother and great-granddaughter sitting up, leaning against a wall, reading children’s books while waiting for help.
“She didn’t want to scare Parker and tried to stay calm,” said Ms. Coen.
Mrs. Grimm is a slight woman, but even Ms. Coen wasn’t able to lift her. So she tried again to call a grandson. This time she was able to reach Carl Grimm, who was lifting his first beer to his lips after a long day of work.
The young man hurried over and they got Mrs. Grimm up to her bed, where Ms. Coen gave her a quick going-over. She had hit her head pretty hard, but was lucid and asked them not to call an ambulance, saying she didn’t want Parker frightened by police officers and emergency medical technicians coming into the house.
On Tuesday, Mrs. Grimm reported that she was fine and praised Parker for her calmness during the ordeal. “I don’t know what I would have done if she wasn’t here,” she said, hugging the little girl tight.