Sidewalk safety - Brittany Gendron

As a first-year counselor, I know all about health and safety. I am a sober-friend encyclopedia; I am officially certified as a crowd manager, I have completed fire safety training (yes I extinguished a fire) and I have pub safe on speed dial. However, one of the main aspects of health and safety never is discussed and I think it is due time for someone to bring it up.

What is this activity that is ever so dangerous to Middlebury student, staff and faculty well-being? Walking.

You might think I’m overly dramatizing the situation, but really, have you tried walking in the months of December – April? It is nearly impossible to pass the winter months without falling, slipping, sliding and having that “pit in your stomach” feeling when you know your beautifully layered self is just falling, without the slightest possibility of reversal, flat onto the sidewalk … or rather ice and snow-covered sidewalk.

This morning for instance, I was meeting a friend at ADK to walk into town for a morning meeting at Carols. Fall #1, outside of Ross Dining Hall, on the sidewalk. Embarrassing enough, I did the “crap-look-around-and-hope-no-one-saw” as I composedly tried to recover and wipe the snow off my pants. Arrived at ADK safely, though with my head down the nearly the entire time, eyes, scouring like lasers trying to detect any hint of ice under this deceptive snow. Fall #2, somewhere down College Street, in front of Sunderland. As my friend and I both were remarking how slippery it was this morning, down I go, right on my bottom.  Successful morning meeting at Carol’s, after being driven back to my friend’s Mod after the meeting, I began to venture my way back up to Ross dining hall. Fall #3, (and yes, as predictable, third time was a charm). Right as I attempt to cross the sidewalk from ADK View to the Ross complex, down I go again. This time it was bad.

As I sat there crying (yes, it was bad), unable to get up, trying to untwist myself from the pretzel of mixed limbs, cursing the lack of clear sidewalks on this campus — and the seemingly downgrade of side-walk clearing (like the dining) since my freshman year — I realized one thing. Even if the College does a bad job keeping sidewalks safe, Middlebury students have hearts of gold.

Immediately someone who must have been parking to go just have a nice morning brunch in Ross ran across the street seeing if I needed help. As I stammered out probably nothing comprehensible, two other girls who had been driving by stopped as well.  Not really knowing anything other than I was in pain, and my right knee and ankle were frozen in the awkward position I’d fallen into, unable to bend without shoots of pain, they helped me up into vehicle of the two girls, and got me straight off to the health center … which was closed (Thanks again, budget cuts). By the time one of the girls tested all the doors, I’d gotten back to normal breathing (not breathing in between the choked tears), the pain was less immediate, and I could bend somewhat fluidly. Realizing nothing was broken, probably just swollen and my ankle twisted and needing a brace — they kindly took me back to my dorm: helped me out again, and now I am on my bed, legs resting with my ice-packs of carrots and ice. The names of these three wonderful Midd Kids I do not remember, I remember the two girls were off to make a cake, and I hope it went beautifully. But thank you, from the bottom of my heart. The kindness and compassion you showed to me as I was still in shock-mode: taking action when I was just not thinking only feeling pain, and helping me to safety warms my heart, and I wish I remembered your actual names so I could thank you properly. But hopefully you’ll read the Campus and get this note.

Granted, my fall was not anything close to as bad as it could have been, but the point is it could have been, and it wouldn’t have taken that much more. So what to be learned from this? Middlebury, I do appreciate how intense of a job it must be to clear the entire campus, when I go home and shovel after a half-hour I’m exhausted, and that’s for a driveway the size of  two parking spaces. And reading the Campus’ article on snow removal just confirms how hard-working and amazing our snow-tackling team is here. However, clearly, something more needs to be done, maybe the “magic salt” just isn’t enough.

From colloquial conversation, I know I’m not the only one who feels the nature of the sidewalks is potentially one of most the dangerous things at Middlebury. So perhaps when all of these “health and safety” conversations happen — we can bring up perhaps one of the “so-obvious-we-don’t-think-of-it” topics, of how to keep the sidewalks safe.