News

Good Samaritans in the PVH Emergency Department

On May 19th, 2011, at approximately 3:00 PM, two unidentified men attempted to abduct a young girl as she was walking home from school. The young girl, a fourth-grader, was walking along 4th Street in front of Paradise Valley Hospital (PVH) when a man approached her and offered her candy. The other man drove slowly next to them in a white pickup truck.

The girl managed to escape her assailants and ran through the PVH parking lot and into the Emergency Department (ED) lobby, sobbing and hysterical. Lead ED Registration Clerk Marie Herring heard the disturbance in the lobby, found the sobbing girl, and walked her back into the ED. Herring comforted the young girl and calmed her down enough to get some information from her. The girl was walking to her grandmother’s house, but she couldn’t, at that moment, give her grandmother’s name or address. Herring and other ED staff quickly notified the local police. By looking through the young girl’s school books and supplies, they managed to get the name of the school she attended and contact officials there. From that point, they were able to get the grandmother’s phone number and contact the grandmother who arrived at the ED almost immediately. Sadly, the girl’s assailants were not found, but the police are on alert and looking for them. The young girl is fine, and safe now with her family.

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