Donnell fire drill becomes lifesaving chance for staff

FINDLAY — A routine fire drill at Donnell Middle School turned into a chance to make a difference — and teach students the importance of paying attention to what you hear, and helping others whenever you can. When students evacuated the building for a recent fire drill, science teacher Ryan Sprout's class happened to be lined up near a neighbor's fence. Sprout thought he had heard something — perhaps someone calling for help — but couldn't clearly make it out at first. He asked another teacher, Robbie Steffen, to take his class back in with Steffen's own class. Sprout stayed outside and realized that, with no one else nearby, he could clearly hear that it was someone calling for help. He called out to confirm what was going on, and heard the neighbor say she had fallen in her garage. Sprout went to assess what was going on, while Steffen alerted principal Barb Tardibuono and school nurse Melissa Herbert. "I just let her know, 'Hey, I'm here,'" Sprout said. Herbert said Tardibuono called 911 and covered the woman with a coat and a blanket to make sure she was warm. "Once I got there, they had the situation well in hand," Herbert said. Herbert assessed the woman for injuries and made sure her neighbor was informed. The woman wasn't hurt, but wasn't able to easily get back up once she fell, she said. "I ran in there not knowing what I was coming into," unsure if the older woman might have a serious injury, like a broken hip, she said. "But she was alert and oriented. And so it was just all about giving comfort and offering compassion to somebody who needed it in that minute. And that's what nursing is all about. That's why I love what I do." Sprout, too, said he found himself thinking that, even though he wasn't a medical professional, "I can at least say, 'Hey, help's on the way. We gotcha.'" And he, Herbert and other Donnell staff found this an important lesson to teach the middle schoolers — that if you happen to be in the right place at the right time, you may not be able to completely fix the situation, but you can be a source of comfort and reassurance to others. Herbert said they often tell the students, "If you hear something, you say something. If you can do something to help, then you should do it." Sprout said he hoped students might learn "Hopefully to be a good neighbor."