Natalie Brown, 23, returned Earl Phillips' call,
then dialed 911 because Phillips sounded ill.
Posted on 06/21/2010 3:02:21 PM PDT by billorites
They say death and taxes are inevitable.
But in the case of Earl Phillips, taxes may have helped save the Adair County man's life.
When Phillips called the state Department of Revenue last month to get answers about his state income tax bill, the faceless Frankfort bureaucrat who called him back saved his life.
Now Phillips thinks Department of Revenue employee Natalie Brown — who dialed 911 when Phillips had a heart attack during that May 26th phone call — should receive more than a simple thank you.
"I'm very proud of that lady," Phillips said. "She saved my life. As far as I'm concerned, there is no end to what she deserves."
Phillips, an Adair County construction worker, received a tax notice in late May with Brown's name and phone number
When Brown returned the call he'd placed, she noticed that Phillips, 60, seemed out of sorts.
"I noticed he was breathing really heavily," Brown said Friday. "I could tell something was wrong."
Brown, 23, asked Phillips if he was OK. But Phillips told Brown he wasn't sure what was wrong.
Phillips said Friday he didn't want to tell a complete stranger on the sixth floor of a Frankfort office building hundreds of miles away that he needed help. He had never really been sick before and had no history of heart problems, he said. He was hoping that whatever was wrong with him would pass.
It didn't.
"I didn't know what to say to her," Phillips said. "At the same time, I did need help."
Phillips' breathing seemed to get worse as minutes ticked by, Brown said.
So Brown verified she had the correct address for Phillips — which was on his tax forms — and called Adair County 911.
Shortly after that, emergency crews arrived and took Phillips, who was home alone, to a local hospital. He was later transferred to a Louisville hospital, where doctors put a stent, or tube, in his heart. He had a 90 percent blockage in one of his arteries, Phillips said.
Brown, meanwhile, spent the next several days worried about Phillips. She left a message on his phone.
About a week later, Phillips called Brown to thank her and tell her that he was OK.
Phillips said Friday he is now on medication, and feels much better. But he still can't believe Brown didn't hang up on him.
"Ninety percent of people nowadays would have left me on my own," Phillips said.
But Brown also credits a bit of serendipity with saving Phillips' life.
Phillips had originally called on May 25.
Brown, who usually keeps all of her contacts and phone messages in one notebook, accidentally put Phillips' number on a different piece of paper. It wasn't until May 26 — the day of Phillips' heart attack — that she returned his phone call.
Brown's boss, Bruce Nix, the Director of Individual Income Tax for the Department of Revenue, said this is the first time in his 21 years with the department of revenue that he can recall that a revenue employee may have saved the life of a taxpayer.
Brown, a Frankfort native, started working for the department in August 2009, just a few months after graduating from Morehead State University. Brown said Friday that she loves her job and she truly believes that state employees are there to help the public.
"We will help you any way that we can, even if it's calling 911," Brown said. "I feel like it was fate that I happened to lose (Phillips' phone number) and I'm glad that I found it when I did."
Gov. Steve Beshear praised Brown's dedication Friday.
"I have always said that our state employees are an excellent, hard-working group, and Natalie proves it," Beshear said. "I offer her my thanks and congratulations for a job truly well done."
Oh, and did Phillips ever get that tax question answered?
"Yes, I did," Phillips said Friday.
Natalie Brown, 23, returned Earl Phillips' call,
then dialed 911 because Phillips sounded ill.
NOT GUILTY!
Nice job, Ms. Brown . . . perhaps lunch, or dinner? Just to show my appreciation.
.
Mrs. Brown, you’ve got a lovely daughter.
Pretty, but no tax collector can be not guilty.
Perhaps I could explore her for loopholes...
Or you could just make an offer-in-compromise, LOL.
I thought ALL government workers were worthless parasites who could not service in a real job. I thought ALL government workers were lazy slugs who would never think about going the extra mile. The broad brush suffers yet another setback. Hooray for this young lady tax collector for her initiative to help save a life.
Sigh...
I thought ALL government workers were worthless parasites who could not service in a real job. I thought ALL government workers were lazy slugs who would never think about going the extra mile. The broad brush suffers yet another setback. Hooray for this young lady tax collector for her initiative to help save a life.
Somehow I dont think of calling 911 in an emergency situation to be above and beyond the call of duty. I sort of think of it as the expected thing that humans do. This is not rocket science.
But a lot of comments around here do not credit any government workers with being decent human beings. There are good and bad in the public sector just as there is in the private sector.
Maybe the taxes caused the heart attack.
The most successful parasites do not kill their hosts.
” NOT GUILTY! “
LOL!!
Hot Kentucky tax girl ping!
Cool story - thanks for sharing.
Not guilty in the extreme!
I wonder how much the stress of taxes played in causing his health problems.
Yeah, good, decent people are likely to slip through and end up in public sector jobs no matter what the government does to try to keep them out.
It just goes to show that they system doesn't work perfectly yet.
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.