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

Sat Oct 23 17:54:01 UTC 2010

Jewel,

Yeah, I was stunned when I read the article.  A woman is frantically
pounding on the train door, yelling, "Stop the Train!" and feeling
desperately for the button. So the most helpful thing anyone can think of to
do is ask, "What did you lose?"

Okay, people, push the button first; ask questions later.

That part of the story, though, does give some insight into how the dog
could have ended up on the wrong side of the door...  Sounds like a lot of
people milling around without having the faintest idea what's going on
around them.  Dog? What dog?  Good grief!

The people sitting in the reserved seating and refusing to move is a common
problem, especially on unmonitored public transit.  Grrr!  Argh!  Our
Tri-Met bus drivers are pretty good at paing attention and telling people to
move from those seats when they see someone who needs them come on the bus.
And we still have many people who will voluntarily move whent hey see that
someone needs the Honored Citizen seat they're sitting in...  On MAX (light
rail), though, you're on your own!  Even when the train isn't that crowded,
you may find yourself still desperately seek a place to sit while the train
is starting to move...  That gets dicey for a number of reasons, at least
for me, since I end up grabbing whatever I can find to keep from being flung
off my feet.  To be honest, no matter how much of a mental priority I make
keeping track of my dog and her safety, I will lose track of where she is
other than on the other end of the leash for a few seconds here and there
during the process.  And a few times, I've been rather startled to
rediscover her, since she's not where I expected her to be because she just
can't maneuver and is now just sort of dancing nervously waiting until we
can get it sorted out...

In other words, what happened to Iris and Palm could happen to us in a
heartbeat!  So I'm thinking of what I can do to upgrade my own safety
protocols to improve our odds there...  But in that much confusion and noise
and movement and jostling, I'm not coming up with any hard and fast rules of
thumb beyond what I already do get on and off the train and bus, which just
generally scares the heck out of me even with a cane...

Before I next ride MAX, though, I will definitely correct my oversight of
not knowing where the button is!  Realizing the number of times I could have
been in Iris' position -- probably more than I realize -- is what's really
scary.

Palm and Iris have survived the unthinkable and unimaginable.  Now it
appears she will be taking on a recalcitrant and careless system.  The fact
that she can even think about it at this point tells me she must be a strong
woman, and I feel helpless that all I can do is think of her and wish her
the best and/or pray and/or...  And add my tiny monetary pittance with the
rest of the paople around the world who are stepping in because Sky Train
won't take responsibility.  Now that the enormous life-saving vet bills are
covered, it sounds like they will still have ongoing expenses for Palm, then
legal expenses, then...  What about Iris?

I am grateful to the reporter for talking about the donations from around
the world.  Restores one faith in humanity, you know.  The rest of the story
tends to make you wonder if you should be embarrassed to be part of the
species.

Best to Iris and Palm both as they start together down a long and very
narrow, rocky road.

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Jewel S.
Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2010 12:53 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Palm the Guide Dog Dragged By SkyTrain home now with
owner - an interview with Iris

This sent shivers up my back. How could the people in th e train not
have helped her? It makes me wonder if this wasn't someone's
intentionally pushing the dog out of the train. But with a congested
train, surely *someone* would have helped her. It's horrendous that no
one did. I'm sure they saw the leash stuck in the door. What did she
lose? What's on a leash, you stupid *bleep*? Gods, that's horrible.

I hope she does file a suit against them. This could be a class-act
suit, too, with the other people who say it happend to them but never
got any compensation.

It is good to see Palm has returned hom and is walking about. I hope
he recovers completely and returns to guiding. I'm sure he is anxious
for it, and I'm sure Iris is also.

On 10/20/10, Ginger Kutsch <gingerKutsch at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 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.
>
>
>
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-- 
~Jewel
Check out my blog about accessibility for the blind!
Treasure Chest for the Blind: http://blindtreasurechest.blogspot.com

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