Editor:
Canmore has a lot of aloha.
My wife and I are from Hawaii, and were involved in a car accident last month just outside of your wonderful town. We were incredibly lucky, and walked away with minor cuts and bruises, even after our rental car rolled over in the ditch. But the experiences we had in the aftermath will not be forgotten.
An anonymous Good Samaritan stopped to help us, and called 911. The local RCMP (Sabrina Clayton) checked in on us twice at the hospital, and again the next day.
The emergency room doctor (Scott Bicek) had the kindest bedside manner we've ever experienced. The entire emergency room staff was compassionate, thorough and helpful. They even helped us find a hotel for the night.
The Coast Hotel desk clerk (Emma) was equally accommodating, and set us up with Dave Ouellette from Three Sisters Taxi to help me locate our [now] towed vehicle.
Dave helped get our luggage out of the crumpled car, along with Jonny Andrews, the tow truck driver from United Towing. Jonny actually spent time on site to look for (and find) our cell phones, which had ejected from the car during the accident.
Dave gave us a ride the following day all the way to Calgary, while he should have been preparing for his daughter’s birthday celebration.
These folks are all just doing their jobs, never expecting to be in the spotlight for doing a nice thing. In these stressful times of today’s world, nobody expects the extra effort to go a little above and beyond.
Yet each of these people treated us, total strangers, with the sort of grace and benevolence that we should all impart on our fellow humans. When you see these folks around town, please tell them that you appreciate kind, hard working people like them, and that they are part of what makes Canmore not just a tourist destination, but a great place to live.
We can all learn from these exemplary folks, to live and treat each other with a little more aloha. It makes a difference, I promise.
Thank you, Canmore.
Scott Meehan and Donna Arany,
Honolulu, Hawaii
