• Roundtrip cab ride to the emergency room: Priceless.
Two Middletown women will never forget a cab ride they took around noon Thursday, Sept. 23. Several months ago, Middletown’s Valentina Pearson, 54, had open-heart surgery, and last Thursday, she had a doctor’s appointment at the Atrium Medical Center campus.
It was supposed to be routine.
She called A1 Taxi, and was picked up at her 16th Avenue apartment by cab driver Vivian Leach. About halfway to the hospital, Leach, new to the cab business, noticed Pearson was slumped over in the back seat and clutching her chest.
“That’s when I got scared,” Leach said.
Pearson told Leach her chest pain was “really bad” before she fell in and out of consciousness. Pearson said she remembers little about the ride to the hospital.
Leach called the cab company’s dispatcher, John Dehaven, and asked if she should call for an ambulance, or continue driving to the hospital. Since she was only three or four minutes from Atrium, Dehaven told her to take Pearson to the emergency room.
Pearson was wheeled into the emergency room, and said she was released later that day.
When asked about Pearson’s actions, Leach said she “did very fine for me” and she was “thankful” she was taken to the ER.
Dehaven said the experience “scared the hell” out of Leach, who moved to Middletown from Kentucky about four months ago.
She began driving a cab only three months ago, and depends on her Global Positioning System to guide her around the city.
Luckily for Pearson, Leach knew her way to the ER.
Contact this columnist at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.
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