On most days Sandra Graham can be seen out doing errands on her disability scooter. Graham, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and has limited mobility, depends on the scooter to do her banking, and shopping, and to get to appointments or visit friends from her home in the south end of the Fergus.
“She’s had eight years and a lot of miles on it,” her husband Ken said of the scooter.
On July 11 when the temperature was hitting 30C Graham was on her way home, travelling up the steep hill on St. David Street at the rear of the former high school when the scooter quit working.
“I went to visit a friend at the hospital,” Graham said of the routine trip. “It just stopped – no warning, nothing. The engine died and it stopped in the sun.”
Frustrated, all Graham wanted was “to just go.” She said she was offered some water by a woman who lived at a home where she was stranded on the sidewalk.
Dustin Seip, 20, saw Graham stranded and came to her assistance, trying at first to get the electric scooter started and then attempting to push it up the hill. Seip said he pushed it a bit, but then the wheels “locked up.”
“I just wanted to make sure she got home,” Seip told the Advertiser. “I didn’t want to abandon her.”
The two decided to call police for assistance and Wellington County OPP constables Ryan Carson and Scott Langhorn responded.
“The female was stranded on the hill, during the peak temperature of the day, unable to do anything about it due to having extremely limited use of her legs,” Carson stated in a media release.
“In need of help, she contacted the OPP and upon arrival I observed some members of the community already at the scene trying to help her.”
He continued, “Inspection of the scooter revealed that the electric motor was not working on the scooter, despite having a full charge in the battery with all the appropriate switches engaged.”
The officers managed to get Graham out of the scooter and into a cruiser with air conditioning to cool her off.
“We then were able to drag the scooter into a nearby driveway off the sidewalk with the permission of the homeowner,” said Carson.
Alerted by a neighbour, Ross Hall and his friend Al George came to assist at the scene along with Mike Onifrichuk.
Seip talked to his mother Debbie Christianson, who offered her pickup truck to transport the scooter to Graham’s home, where she had been taken by the officers
“Langhorn and I got the female back to her residence and upon return to the scene, (the) three other males had already stopped to assist with loading the scooter,” Carson said.
Seip said the six men managed to get the scooter into the back of the pickup truck and get it to Graham’s home, where they unloaded it.
“At the house, the six of us were able to lift the heavy scooter out of the back of the pickup truck and carry it all the way into her secure garage,” Carson said.
“I reassured Sandra everything had been taken care of and she was extremely grateful for everyone’s help.”
“This was our workout for the day,” Hall quipped about the experience.
“Everybody is here to help everybody out,” he told the Advertiser.
Graham said she was “extremely thankful” for the assistance she received from complete strangers. Her husband said he too appreciated the assistance.
The couple is now looking for a replacement scooter, as the old one can’t be repaired.
Christianson said she is extremely proud of what her son did to assist, along with the other residents.
“As a mom the biggest reward I ever got was my son helping people out,” she said.
Carson said it’s rewarding to see people helping out.
“These people are far and few between and should be commended for their actions,” he said.
