[nagdu] Palm the Guide Dog Dragged By SkyTrain home now with owner - an interview with Iris

[Ginger Kutsch]

Palm the Guide Dog Dragged By SkyTrain home now with owner - an
interview with Iris
 By Kim Pemberton 19 Oct 2010 COMMENTS(8) Puppy Love  
http://communities.canada.com/VANCOUVERSUN/blogs/puppylove/archiv
e/2010/10/19/palm-the-guide-dog-dragged-by-skytrain-home-now-with
-owner-an-interview-with-iris.aspx
 
Palm, the guide dog for the blind who was seriously injured in a
SkyTrain accident last month is back home with her owner Iris
Thompson, and able to take short walks in the neighbourhood.
(They're pictured here in an earlier Sun archive photo.)
 
The five-year-old yellow Labrador suffered a punctured lung,
fractured ribs and a broken muzzle when she was dragged by a
train and smashed into a metal object at the Lougheed station in
Burnaby. Palm had been trapped by her leash and left on the
platform when the sliding doors of the automated train system
shut and would not reopen as they are supposed to do when sensors
detect something between them.
 
I talked with Iris recently and learned some facts about this
horrific accident, including confirmation the SkyTrain was
congested at the time and other commuters did not step in to
offer any help to Thompson, who is blind. This is particularly
troubling considering once Thompson was aware Palm had stepped
back from the train  she was frantically trying to save her dog
and asking for help from other passengers. Yet, no one inside
that same train stepped up to help her. Here's what Thompson told
me about the incident.
 
After Palm had led her onto the train, Thompson immediately tried
to find a seat. This is the proper procedure for both guide dog
and handler.  "I put my hand on the back of the chair and people
were there but didn't get up. That's not uncommon. The majority
of people don't get up. We were right on the train and I turned
right, then as I turned to me left that's when she (Palm) was on
the Skytrain side (and when she would have stepped onto the
platform)," said Thompson. "No one said anything to me. It wasn't
until the door closed I realized she wasn't there. I had her
leash in my hand, and whether she was bumped by the door and
stepped back or if someone pushed her I don't know."
 
Thompson said she definitely had a  hand on Palm's leash at all
times and started to yell when the SkyTrain doors wouldn't
automatically reopen so she could get to Palm. Here's what
surprised me when other passengers now became aware of the
tragedy about to unfold.
 
"Someone said 'what did you lose?' I was yelling 'stop the train.
I couldn't find the emergency button. It was a complete
nightmare. There is an emergency strip around the doorway to
alert SkyTrain personnel but I couldn't find it. Apparently
there's a emergency button but I wasn't aware of where it was. I
was yelling 'open the door'. No one came to help me. After the
train left I was panicking and a man was saying 'it's going to be
okay.' I didn't know what happened to my dog. As soon as I got
off at the  next station I got a hold of my husband and he left
work and met me at the Lougheed station," she said.
 
Thompson said while riding, what would have been an excruciating
long journey, to the Braid station then back to Lougheed station
she couldn't get her cell phone to work. Again, no offers of help
from other commuters.
 
By the time she got back to the Lougheed station she learned a
woman at the train station had picked Palm up and arranged for
transport to an emergency veterinary hospital.  She was also told
a man had jumped down onto the track to pick up her guide dog,
and another commuter gave Palm a blanket and tried to comfort
her.  Readers might recall from an earlier post, and article you
can read here,  the system did not automatically shut down after
Palm fell onto the tracks and she narrowly avoided being hit by a
second train that came into the station immediately after her
fall. The identity of the strangers who did help has never been
known, so Thompson said she has been unable to thank them.
 
"Palm was terrified. People said she tried to get up and walk but
couldn't," said Thompson, of the young Labrador whose entire side
had been ripped off from the accident.
 
Besides the shocking apathy from passengers on the train another
disturbing fact I learned from Thompson is she has still not been
contacted by TransLink officials or the provincial safety
regulator to get a statement from her for their investigation.
One has to wonder if they are taking this accident seriously? We
already know the nearly $15,000 veterinary bill was not paid by
TransLink but rather the public generously donated after learning
of the story.
 
"What else has to happen before TransLink realizes the doors are
not safe?" asked Thompson, who said she was extremely grateful to
those who contributed towards the cost of the vet bill.
 
Since the accident she has been contacted by others who have
suffered similar incidents where the SkyTrain doors wouldn't
reopen, including another blind person who became separated from
her dog who was dragged 20 feet by SkyTrain in 1997 and suffered
a dislocated hip.
 
"It makes me mad that this has happened before," said Thompson.
"How can this change if TransLink won't do anything about it."
 
Thompson said her first priority is Palm's full recovery but she
is now considering getting in touch with a lawyer and filing a
claim against TransLink.
 
"I don't want this forgotten," she said.