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July 26, 2008

By Krystal J. Carman The Claremore Daily Progress Sat Jul 26, 2008, 02:05 PM CDT

Donnie Chasteen is in the business of responding to emergency situations.

He’s drives a tow truck.

Thursday, he found himself hauling something other than a wrecked or broken-down vehicle.

“I was working here, had the truck backed up in here listening to the radio as I always do, and I heard the dispatcher call a welfare check on an elderly woman with health problems and the neighbors hadn’t seen her,” Chasteen said.

“I could hear the concern in the dispatcher’s voice and I could hear (McElhaney) was a little bit disturbed about it too.

Chasteen responded to a call made by Melinda Troyer, Inola, around 4:50 p.m. Thursday.

Troyer called the Sheriff’s Office for help after she was unable to reach her neighbor Jeanie Nees, 80, on the phone.

“Her air-conditioner had went out and she had called my husband, but he’s not in town,” Troyer said. “He called to tell me about it and I couldn’t get through on her phone. So I called the Sheriff’s Office because I didn’t know what else to do. I was worried about her.”

Troyer said she told the dispatcher she had not seen Nees out of her home that day and could not get her to answer the phone. She asked the dispatcher for a welfare check.

At the time, the on-duty deputies were busy on separate calls so Lt. Mike McElhaney, who wasn’t on duty yet, told dispatch he would take the call.

It was then that Chasteen, owner of Inola Wrecker, who had heard the call on the radio, decided to take the opportunity to help someone in need.

“I just kind of had that, you know that inner voice that tells you to do something. I called dispatch and told them I’ll get her an air-conditioner and put it in if there’s a window to put it in,” Chasteen said.

Chasteen took the air-conditioner he had bought for his own use, loaded it into the wrecker and drove the 15 miles down a county road to Nees’ house.

“She had a unit that wasn’t much better than a fan when I got there,” Chasteen said. “She couldn’t believe someone wanted to help her. Then she asked if I wanted it back after the season was over and I said, ‘No ma’am. I want you to keep it so next year you won’t have to wonder about if you’re going to have cool or not when the heat gets here’.”

Once the unit was set in Nees home and cold air flowed once again, dispatch reported Nees was “nice and cool now.”

In Rogers County, there is no longer a program which provides air-conditioners for the elderly. According to an official with Community Action Resource Development, that organization did not receive any air-conditioners this year. Neither the Rogers County Health Department nor Rogers County Department of Human Services offer any such program.

Dr. Randy Williams, an emergency room doctor at Claremore Regional, said he treated two patients Friday who had suffered heat-related illnesses. He said he had treated at least eight to 10 more this summer.

Had Chasteen not acted as he did in providing the air-conditioner for Nees, the situation may have had a different outcome. Being exposed to high temperatures for extended periods of time can cause heat-related illnesses that could cause death. Three heat-related issues that can be prevented are heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Heat stroke is the most dangerous and can cause death.

Immediate Care in Claremore, thas treated five patients with heat-related illnesses.

To date, there have been no heat-related deaths reported in Rogers County.

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