A Good Samaritan

During the commute one winter morning to her office in Atlanta, Georgia, Aloise McNichols noticed a disabled car blocking two lanes of traffic on the interstate. She could see the driver slumped over inside his vehicle. “I knew he was in trouble,” she says. No one had yet stopped to help the man.

Aloise parked her car and ran across two lanes of busy freeway traffic to the man’s car, which had apparently struck a retaining wall. “Sometimes you just know what is right and do it without further thought,” she says. When she found that the driver was unconscious and showing symptoms of shock, she wrapped him in her coat and ran back across traffic to call an ambulance from her car phone. She then returned to the victim and found his identification, which indicated that he was a diabetic. She was able to reach his employer on her phone, who in turn notified the man’s wife.

When an ambulance passed nearby, Aloise flagged it down. With the help of another motorist who had stopped after she did, Aloise pushed the disabled car out of the traffic flow and changed its flat tire. She then drove the car to the hospital so that it wouldn’t be left on the roadside with what appeared to be valuable computer equipment inside. After she was briefed on the man’s condition, she got a ride back to her own car and made it to her ten o’clock meeting only a little late.

Medical personnel confirmed that the man had been in serious danger and that Aloise’s quick response probably saved his life. “I felt really exhilarated and humbled at the same time,” she says of the experience. “I honestly feel blessed that I was given the opportunity to help someone to that degree.”

A member of the Commerce Branch, Sugar Hill Georgia Stake, Aloise works as a human resources district manager at a large corporation, which recognized her with an employee award for risking personal injury to save someone’s life.