Scary Moments
by Richard Bermack

Sept-Oct 2001

The Arc workers make it sound like their work is pure pleasure, but there are scary moments as well. Just as every worker relishes the joy of seeing clients ride off on their own for the first time, one of their greatest fears is traveling across town with a group of clients and realizing that one of them is missing. Arc workers are well trained to deal with these emergency situations.
Ed Rauch relates one of his close calls: “I had one incident. An individual didn’t follow us onto the BART train and got left behind, but we found him. It was scary, very scary. You wonder, ‘What did I do?’ It is a hazard that can happen anytime, but we are prepared. We carry all their information around with us all the time, so we know who to contact. I activated the procedure, and the police found him and took him home.”

Rauch has also had clients go into seizures. What do you do when someone goes into seizure? “Basically you have to make sure they are safe. Mainly let them have their seizure, keep things out of their mouth and make sure they don’t hit their head. If it isn’t over in five minutes, you dial 911. Usually they don’t last more than a minute. And after they have the seizure, let them have as much rest as possible.”