Making a Difference: Heat of the Moment
With temperatures pushing 105 degrees, lunchtime was never so welcome on that day in Midland, Texas, for Crew Foreman Andrew Armijo, Senior Construction Operator Leroy Martinez and Distribution Operator Luis Lopez, all with Atmos Energy. The three men had just finished their morning repairs and were driving to grab food when Martinez happened to glance out his window—and saw an elderly man hunched on the ground next to a pickup truck.
Armijo called Lopez, who was in the car behind them, and the convoy immediately turned around to go back.
With heat shimmering above the asphalt—which was likely 5 degrees hotter than the ambient air—the man was crumpled and unresponsive. Two older ladies were gathered next to him, wanting to help but unsure of what to do.
The crew swung into action. Armijo asked one of the ladies to bring a chair from a nearby patio, Martinez ran to the truck and got a 10×10 tent to create instant shade, and Lopez called 911. Meanwhile, one of the ladies shared that the man had just come home from the hospital due to a concussion and broken ribs from a bad fall.
While they waited for EMTs, the crew carefully helped the man up and gently settled him into the chair, away from the hot asphalt and under shade. “I tried talking with him, but he couldn’t speak,” Armijo said. “He was very pale. We gave him some bottled water, wet some towels, and put them around his chest, his neck, his back and on top of his head.”
Meanwhile, the man’s wife—who was inside a nearby townhome and saw the accident—had called a family member, who arrived soon after. “I only live two blocks away,” said stepson Scott Panthaky. “By the time I got there, the Atmos Energy employees had taken care of everything. Time was of the essence. They didn’t hesitate one bit in helping him. They treated my stepfather like he was their own dad. He recuperated in the hospital for a week and is back home now and doing well.”
“We’ve never been in that situation before, but we knew what to do,” said Martinez. Added Armijo, “Just with the training I’ve had through Atmos Energy and the guys who were with me, they were just able to give me the confidence to be there in that situation because I knew that gentleman needed help.”
“They don’t put us through that training for nothing,” said Lopez. “There’s no telling how long he would have been down if we hadn’t spotted him.”