Strange Trip To YMCA

Happy taco Tuesday, everybody say. I just. I had to go live today to share, you know, an experience that I had at the local YMCA yesterday that just still is, you know, just a kind of a tough, tough pill to swallow. And so I just. I just wanted to share about it today. But every, every Monday, you know, my son, you know, Cameron and I, he's six, we head over to our local YMCA, and at the YMCA, he goes swimming. And then after swimming, he has a ninja. And then even some Mondays, the other kids have music lessons and all that stuff.

So I always have Cameron day. And on Cameron day, you already have a tough day at work and all those other things. And then at Monday night, then we're off and running to swimming, to ninja, and, you know, making dinner and just kind of trying to blend it all in, right? But so yesterday, this is an absolute true story. And so yesterday, you know, we were driving up, and I was driving up in the Cadre van, and I parked in the far corner of the lot at the YMCA, right? So the very, very far corner of the lot right next to me was a pretty new, if not brand new, red rav four, right?

And I always get out my driver side door, but for some reason unknown to man, I walked out the door, the big door, the sliding door of the van, right? So I imagine, like, you know, driver door, passenger door. And then once you get into the back, this big van, there's a sliding door that goes all the way back to the side of the vehicle, right. And it opens up and, you know, it's a big, like, five foot opening, let's call it. So again, 99% of the time, I just obviously just go right out my door. But since it was Cameron and he asked me to grab something for him out of the back that he couldn't find, so I grabbed it and I opened up the door, and right to the right of me, that rav four, I saw an individual sleeping.

You know, I saw an individual sleeping in their vehicle. I didn't think anything of it for a second. And then I grabbed, you know, like I said, I grabbed the towel and everything else, and I looked over again and I saw, like, completely slunched over, like, humped over like this. And so I went and I knocked down the window and I knocked. I knocked. I knocked hard. And there was just. It was completely unresponsive, right? So I waited for a couple individuals to come walking out. I finally grabbed those two individuals.

It was two moms. And I said, can you please take my son in to swimming lessons. To my son, Cameron, into swimming lessons. And so they grabbed Cameron and they brought him in. And then I sat there and saw what was. What was going on. I kept knocking and knocking, knocking and hitting as long as I could. And then I saw a needle in her arm. So she was obviously dying from an overdose. The doors were locked and all that stuff. So I just kept pounding and pounding and pounding. And then I called 911.

Right? So I called 911. I had. I called 901. They asked me for my location, where I was, told them where I was, the big vehicle, the big van, and her rav four. And I told her. I said, my name is Luke Wendtland. I work in this space. I'm seeing an obvious overdose. There's a needle in her arm. It has XYZ. This is what I can tell you that's going on the scene. Doors locked, all the things, right? And so all that was happening, calling 911 immediately. Two squad cars came flying up. An ambulance came flying over.

The big fire truck came as well. And, you know, they asked for my information. They asked where the vehicle was. They asked me to report real quick. They immediately went to town. I went over to the opposite side of the van. So I wasn't watching. I wasn't seeing anything. Nothing of the like. But in that short amount of time, they obviously probably did Narcan or something like that, and then brought her into the ambulance and saved her life. But she was completely non responsive. She was probably in her mid forties somewhere on that ballpark.

And she was brought to. And then brought into the ambulance. Right? And all that transpired. But I just want to say this again. Just think about it like this. What if. What if I would have not walked out that side door and went out my normal door, right? Like, would somebody have else have seen that? Because really, I would have basically blocked with that big van, that. That vehicle in the far corner, right? And so if I did not go out that door on Cameron's side door and to open that door and to see what I saw, you know, it's an unbelievable, unbelievable event that happened that way.

Instead of the alternative, you know, folks, you know, there's a. There's a 107,600 people that died of an overdose this last year in 2022. And it was this close to having one more. And I'm sure that one more was maybe a mother, daughter, friend, cousin, relative, all the things. But in that moment, I was so impressed with how the local white bear authority, that's where I live, the white bear of Lake Minnesota, the local authorities handled the situation, took her, treated her the right way, broke in real quick, got her in, got her access into the.

Not the hospital, the ambulance did everything that was needed or necessary. And so we wrapped up swimming. We came out of swimming, and all of this was still going on. So I hope that she's okay, and I hope that her unresponsiveness isn't too deep in regards to maybe brain suffering, you name it. But I wanted to share, if you ever see somebody that's maybe sleeping in a vehicle, etcetera, right now, and you just think they're maybe taking a nap, you know, go over and knock on that and just get a better look at the scene, you know, if I didn't do that, and I'm not saying I'm a hero.

That's not what I'm here to say. But if I didn't do that, I probably wouldn't notice the things that I saw. You know, not that she was sleeping, but that she was completely unresponsive and that she had a needle stuck in her arm. Right. And so we need to do this for our colleagues. We need to do this for our friends. We need to do this for our family. We need to do it for everybody. But a local trip to the YMCA that I've taken hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times will forever have changed my life.

You know, and that process and how that went through it, and I'm still, like, last night, it was still hard not going to bed and to see what you saw and what you witnessed. But we're all put here for a reason right now. And I believe the most important thing that we're all here to do right now and call to do is to serve others and help others and figuring out ways in which you can support or give in or lean into people. And, I mean, if this is just a think about. I was just thinking about growing up, you know, going to Hutchinson, you know, area fitness or Hutchinson recreational Center, like this.

Just. This just wasn't an option that was on the table of, you know, overdosing in the parking lot. And for all of the new generation that's growing up, like, you know, unfortunately, or fortunately, it's obviously unfortunately, you know, this is. This is their reality, and this is their norm, is they're growing up with overdoses in schools, overdoses in our parking lots, overdoses in ymcas, overdoses in churches, overdoses all over the world. I just received a call from an individual and a friend who their pastor died of an overdose.

It doesn't matter who you are right now, you are being ultimately affected by this. And my son, who's six years old, you know, was very, I'm not saying traumatized, but he was wondering and asking all these different questions and try to explain that to a six year old, you know, driving home from swimming lessons and ninja, you know, it's pretty unbelievable. So I just wanted to share that story today as weighing so heavy on my heart. And, you know, just keep your eyes open, keep your ears open, keep watching, because the world needs angels right now, and the world needs angels that are watching out for other human beings and be an angel to somebody.

Trust me when I tell you you're needed. Have an amazing day, you guys. Happy taco Tuesday. Be on the lookout for the.