Skip to comments.
Canada: Bystanders ignore plight of burning homeless man
The Times Colonist ^
| December 14, 2005
| Maurice Bridge
Posted on 12/14/2005 7:54:20 PM PST by Stoat
Bystanders ignore plight of burning homeless man
Christine Wellstead, an emergency room nurse at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, stands near an alcove outside a Starbucks where she doused a homeless man whose comforter caught fire while he was sleeping.
Photograph by : Ian Smith, CanWest News Service
Maurice Bridge, CanWest News Service
Published: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 VANCOUVER -- St. Paul's emergency nurse Christine Wellstead has seen some pretty rough things on the job, but nothing has shaken her as much as the callous indifference she witnessed Monday night as bystanders ignored an unconscious homeless man wrapped in a burning comforter.
Wellstead was on her way home from work around 10:30 p.m. when she stopped at Starbucks at 19th and Cambie for a coffee. Smelling smoke, she walked outside to see what was burning, but all she could see was a woman sitting at an outside table, talking calmly on her phone as clouds of smoke rolled past her.
"She's on her cellphone, having her coffee and she's sitting amongst this acrid smoke," she said.
Looking further, Wellstead found a man slumped on a bench in a nearby alcove on the side street, wrapped in a comforter that was on fire.
"It was smouldering, and it was by his face," she said. "It was all orange, and there was smoke. I threw the blanket on the ground and tried to wake him up, but he didn't wake up."
She ran back into Starbucks for water to put out the fire, and that's when she got a real shock.
She said another woman customer standing at the counter told her: "Just leave him alone, he's a homeless person," Wellstead recalled. "I looked at her and I said, 'What are you talking about?'
"And she says, 'He's homeless, just forget it.' "
Appalled, Wellstead rushed back out with water to douse the fire and still couldn't wake the man, so she ran inside again and asked a barista to call for help.
"I said, 'You'd better call an ambulance, because I can't wake him up,' and the lady [customer] said, 'Don't call the hospital, they don't want him,' and I just looked at her, and I said, 'I work at the hospital and yeah, we want him.' "
Wellstead finally woke the man and got him sitting up as they waited for the ambulance. He told her he was prone to seizures and believed he had one while he was smoking, wrapped in his comforter against the night chill.
Wellstead said she didn't believe he suffered serious burns. The fire and ambulance crews who answered the call were great, she said, and treated him with respect as they took him away to St. Paul's Hospital.
The ambulance service confirmed a man was taken to St. Paul's after the incident. CanWest News could not obtain information on his condition Tuesday.
The well-dressed customer who made the callous remarks sat alone in her car at the curb, sipping her coffee and watching as the event unfolded.
Wellstead went home, but she was still upset Tuesday morning. "I can't get my head around it," she said. "I'm so upset. I was almost in tears.
"I know there are a lot of homeless people here and I know some of them can be annoying, but this was a human being.
"His blanket was on fire."
TOPICS: Canada; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: apathy; canada; canadianchristmas; canadiancompassion; canuckistan; christmascompassion; compassion; homeless; immolated; immolation; kindness
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100, 101-120, 121-140, 141-159 last
To: Stoat
So much for the "New Canadian" being the epitome of caring, huh? ;)
141
posted on
12/15/2005 7:13:02 AM PST
by
detsaoT
(run bsd)
To: dsc
What reason is that? Because they provided the lady with water and let her use the phone?
142
posted on
12/15/2005 7:16:18 AM PST
by
Doohickey
(If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice...I will choose freewill.)
To: Stoat
What? A starbucks employee that was callous and uncaring about the homeless??? How can that be, all their PC nonsense corporate policies... how can someone working for such a caring and outspoken business be so cold?
Man, and folks say things in the US are bad.
To: DieHard the Hunter
If you want to feel better about Canadians, go to Newfoundland. As a general rule, they're some of the finest, kindest people in existence, even though they're the poorest province in Canada. Just look at how kind they were to all of the stranded travellers during 9-11.
To: HappyMary
> If you want to feel better about Canadians, go to Newfoundland
I love Newfoundland -- it's a great place with warm and friendly people, exactly like you say.
To all the "Newfies" in Canada: a Merry Christmas from DownUnder, and may God's Blessing be with you in the New Year
145
posted on
12/15/2005 8:50:12 AM PST
by
DieHard the Hunter
(I am the Chieftain of my Clan. I bow to nobody. Get out of my way.)
To: furquhart
Wow. That's got to be one of the most inhumane things I've EVER read on FR.
Merry Christmas to you.
*boggle*
146
posted on
12/15/2005 8:52:19 AM PST
by
Malacoda
(The Posting Police annoy me)
To: freedumb2003
Light a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Light a man on fire and he'll be warm the rest of his life. LOL
147
posted on
12/15/2005 9:20:45 AM PST
by
CommandoFrank
(Peer into the depths of hell and there you will find the face of Islam...)
To: Stoat
When one gets sufficiently used to the notion that the guvmint ought to take care of things for you, that's how one reacts.
148
posted on
12/15/2005 9:22:38 AM PST
by
steve-b
(A desire not to butt into other people's business is eighty percent of all human wisdom)
To: furquhart
What do you have against nurses? This is just one case of attention grabbing. I'm sure most nurses aren't like this.
To: Constantine XIII
"That's why I think Mr. F is behaving in a "trollish" manner."
Fair ball/ I thought you were telling F I was a troll.
I F is for real he has some wacky ideas.
To: NewsJunqui
Try Miko on Robson.
The chef catered to the emperor of Japan.
Go for the red Toro Sashimi if they have it. It's like tenderloin.
To: Stoat
From now on, I'm going to bring up this story any time some Canadian lefty starts bloviating about how much more caring and compassionate they are than us awful Americans.
152
posted on
12/15/2005 12:57:11 PM PST
by
jpl
To: jpl
From now on, I'm going to bring up this story any time some Canadian lefty starts bloviating about how much more caring and compassionate they are than us awful Americans.Juvenile arrogance of the sort that you describe needs to be instantly bitch-slapped into a quivering submissiveness, and I am honored if this article might help you in that regard. Full steam ahead and please remind any self-important America Haters that if Canada had had it's way, Saddam Hussein and his evil spawn Uday and Qusay would still be feeding live Iraqis through plastic shredder machines while their relatives were forced to watch and Saddam would still be providing substantial financial support for all terrorists and their families.. America has nothing to apologize for and nothing to feel guilty over. Please give this thread a prominent bookmark in your computer and redistribute it liberally.
Merry Christmas to you and yours :-)
153
posted on
12/16/2005 12:25:47 AM PST
by
Stoat
(Rice / Coulter 2008: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
To: Malacoda
> Wow. That's got to be one of the most inhumane things I've EVER read on FR.
Amen. My guess is that this particular Scrooge probably isn't really from Vancouver originally. He/she is probably from someplace else, but God alone knows where.
Merry Christmas indeed: he/she will need it, as I suspect the Ghost of Marley and his three Ghost Mates will be visited upon this Scrooge forthwith. A well-deserved visitation, hopefully an attitude adjustment will result.
Merry Christmas to you and yours, and God's Blessing in the New Year
154
posted on
12/16/2005 4:01:46 AM PST
by
DieHard the Hunter
(I am the Chieftain of my Clan. I bow to nobody. Get out of my way.)
To: Stoat
"Juvenile arrogance of the sort that you describe needs to be instantly bitch-slapped into a quivering submissiveness..."
Stoat:
You have an awesome way with words!
Regards,
Levante
155
posted on
12/16/2005 2:17:55 PM PST
by
Levante
To: Levante
You have an awesome way with words! Thank you very much (((blushing)))
I live in a state that borders Canada, and so I am frequently subjected to the inarticulate, holier-than-thou proclamations from scruffy Leftist Canuck potheads. I have absolutely zero patience for them and so sometimes my verbiage becomes animated :-)
Thank you for you kind words and best wishes to you and yours for a Merry Christmas :-)
156
posted on
12/17/2005 10:48:52 AM PST
by
Stoat
(Rice / Coulter 2008: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
To: Stoat
Thank you, Stoat. May you and your loved ones have a very Merry Christmas and a great New Year!
Regards,
Levante (formerly in Spain, now Florida!)
157
posted on
12/17/2005 1:56:27 PM PST
by
Levante
To: Stoat; Welsh Rabbit; furquhart
Actually I'm not skeptical at all. Check out this other recent thread:
Teen Accused Of Paying Homeless Man $5 To Drink Cleaning Solution http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1541773/posts
It's also linked on the front page of drudge right now.
Here in Austin we have been having a problem recently with something called bum fights. People were paying the homeless to beat each other up and filming it (so they could sell the videos on the Internet). The police eventually got called in as it escalated to paying them to do really dangerous activities; if I remember right one homeless man was paid to walk across the outside rail of a major highway overpass.
Just because some homeless advocate groups go a little overboard in their descriptions of the plight of the homeless doesn't mean that that plight doesn't exist.
This is also a little off topic, but I'm starting to hear more "conservatives" recently talk as if we have no societal responsibility to reach out to individuals like this. I believe we do... I just believe it should be by private individuals, organizations, or the local government.
That is why this whole incident, and responses such as post #5, scare me so much.
Those "people" are a nusience. (sic) They're scum. I can fully understand why no one would care.
How are we to argue against the federal government stepping in if private citizens don't step up?
-paridel
158
posted on
12/17/2005 8:08:02 PM PST
by
Paridel
To: Paridel
How are we to argue against the federal government stepping in if private citizens don't step up?I agree with your post 100%.....first of all, anyone who is skeptical of a story like this being true has simply not met a very wide range of people. People can be breathtakingly heartless when given a chance, in large measure because many have come to expect "the government " to do EVERYTHING for them.
This is also a little off topic, but I'm starting to hear more "conservatives" recently talk as if we have no societal responsibility to reach out to individuals like this. I believe we do... I just believe it should be by private individuals, organizations, or the local government.
Please don't be concerned...I'm not a "stay on topic" Fascist. It's one thing to be a supporter of the concept of a lean, waste-free government and it's quite another to turn your back on a human being WHO IS ON FIRE, right in front of you....
Let's not forget also that before the Welfare State, Churches did a fine job of helping those in need. We can thank the ACLU and groups like them not only for creating the homeless problem in large measure because they made it incredibly difficult to give these people the medical care that they need, but also for preventing us from having the very best solutions for dealing with it properly, what with all of the 'separation of Church and State' stuff. I would be delighted to give churches and other religious organizations mammoth tax incentives and direct aid while getting the Government out of direct care for the homeless....I'll bet we would see a precipitous reduction in homelessness as well as a dramatic overall improvement in the quality of life in numerous other areas of society.
159
posted on
12/18/2005 2:01:43 AM PST
by
Stoat
(Rice / Coulter 2008: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100, 101-120, 121-140, 141-159 last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson