[Shadow Bea]

Some positive upbeat news

Snow Angels


Spider-Man, schmeider-man. In Alaska, the all-girl Dragon Slayers race to the rescue.
"After a bad call, we talk, cry and give a big group hug," says Patty Yaska (left, with harpoon, on the Kuskokwim River with other Dragon Slayers and the novice Lizard Killers).
(Axel Koester)
At 10:20 a.m. on what passes for a balmy spring day in Aniak, Alaska -- 20 degrees, blinding snow -- Volunteer Fire Chief Pete Brown radios his emergency medical team to meet him at the home of George Peterson, an octogenarian who is struggling for breath. Minutes later, Brown, 57, and his colleagues arrive at Peterson's bedside. "What's wrong with me?" asks the frail man with congestive heart failure. "It hurts."
"We're going to give you some oxygen," Dione Turner tells him in a soothing voice. "It will make you feel better," promises Patty Yaska, hooking him up to the canister. Soon Peterson feels revived enough to banter with his rescuers and to notice that they are astonishingly young. As Patty and Dione, both 17, depart, he turns to his son Ray, who placed the 911 call, and asks, "Who were those girls?" Replies Ray: "They're the Dragon Slayers."

A team of seven high school girls, the angels of Aniak provide the only round-the-clock emergency medical care available to 3,000 people in 14 villages across an area the size of Maryland. At an age when many of their peers are obsessing over glitter eye shadow, these volunteer EMTs -- each of whom has 200 hours of medical and fire-safety training under her belt -- respond to 450 calls a year. The youngest Dragon Slayer, 14-year-old Erinn Marteney, pulled a toddler from a burning home the day after Christmas. Mariah Brown, 17 (Pete's daughter), was once bitten by a drunken man as she dressed his wounds. Team members have revived fellow teens who tried to kill themselves and grandmothers in cardiac arrest. They have rescued a villager who fell through ice, snowmobilers injured in collisions and survivors of small-plane crashes. "It really changes how you are as a person," says Erica Kameroff, 16.

Getting to the victims -- most of whom, like the Dragon Slayers, are Yupik Eskimos and Athabascan Indians -- is a challenge in itself: No roads connect Aniak, 350 miles west of Anchorage and surrounded by rivers, to the rest of Alaska. Through early May the team uses frozen waterways as thoroughfares, traveling in snowmobiles and four-wheel-drive vehicles. In warmer months, when the ice thaws, they often rely on boats.

[hewee]

Thanks for post that bea. It heartwarming to hear we have kids that care for other like that.

[eggplant43]

I read about these young folks in Reader's Digest about 6 months ago. It's heartwarming. These folks are our future

I like the idea of this thread, thanks for starting it.

[Shadow Bea]

Hi guys,
Thank you both Hewee , Bruce. I too am tired and disheartened listening to, reading and seeing nothing but rape, murder, road rage, madness and war and the atrocities that "human beings" can inflict on others. I want to see positive proactive evidence that the milk of human kindness is not completely sour

[n2gun]

Great article and great idea ie this thread

[littlemar]

Thanks Bea for the uplift. It helps to read some good stuff for a change especially when everything on the news is a downer. I also think it's great that these young people have the maturity and desire to help people. The future leadership in Alaska looks great.

[Shadow Bea]

Originally posted by n2gun:
Great article and great idea ie this thread

Thanks n2gun
is n2 your nickname or do you like to be called by your full name Mr. Gun
Bea

[Shadow Bea]

Originally posted by littlemar:
Thanks Bea for the uplift. It helps to read some good stuff for a change especially when everything on the news is a downer. I also think it's great that these young people have the maturity and desire to help people. The future leadership in Alaska looks great.

Thanks Mary I feel the same way
We here at TSG of course have not only the milk of human kindness in abundance. but are the cream of the crop thank you all

[SyscoKid]

Check out the Dragon Slayers Home Page !

There's even a photo gallery!

[n2gun]

Sysco
great link! Thanks for sharing it.

[SyscoKid]

You're welcome!

Hello,

Lovely to read about these people. Why do you think they chose a name involved slaying? when they are so involved with saving life. Slaying problems, do you think?

T2

[Shadow Bea]

Originally posted by Tuppence2:
Hello,

Lovely to read about these people. Why do you think they chose a name involved slaying? when they are so involved with saving life. Slaying problems, do you think?

T2

Hi T2
I believe it is because in folk lore dragon slayers were knights in shining armor
and they went out to slay the dragons (metaphorically speaking The bad guys) ?
Bea

[Mike C UK]

Probably goes back to St George! And that was probably based on earlier thoughts and ideas! The dragon has long been seen in many cultures as a synonym for evil in one form or another.

Just take a look in Google at all the entries related to the fight against one 'evil' or another that you get by searching "slaying the dragon" (include " marks).

Mike

[Mike C UK]

Revellations xii, 9 - Satan as "the great dragon" - often symbolised as such in Christian art.

Psalms xci, 13 - saints "shall trample the dragon under their feet"

Mike