Gr8 Acts of Kindness: Wrong turn puts nurse in right place

JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) - June 9, 2020, found Lisa McBroome driving in downtown Jonesboro.

She had her driver’s side window rolled down, enjoying the fresh air driving to Abilities Unlimited to drop off donations loaded into her car.

At this intersection, everything is about to change.

“I never saw him coming,” Lisa said of a truck about to impact her vehicle.

At the intersection of Flint and Huntington, everything changed.

Her white SUV was hit by a truck failing to stop at the stop sign.

The impact, captured on this Jonesboro Police Officer’s dashcam, causes her vehicle to roll.

“Complete turnover,” McBroome said. “Whenever I landed back up and saw my arm. It was bad.”

That moment burned into McBroome’s mind forever.

Her seat belt buckled --but her arm resting on the open window.

“My arm hit the pavement, and when it hit, it just exploded.”

At that same instant, a home health nurse from St. Bernards, Jennifer Strickland, took a wrong turn.

“I wound up being on the wrong road, and then I literally looked up and saw your car,” Strickland said to McBroome.

She knew something was wrong...and you can see her on the JPD dash camera video.

“It felt like my arm was on fire,” McBroome said.

“She was covered in blood...it was bad,” Strickland said.

The police officer on the scene gives Lisa a tourniquet from his Stop the Bleeding Foundation bag.

“He threw it to me and said, ‘left arm,’ and I ran a pretty good ways to the vehicle,” Strickland said.

“I am a nurse. But, I’m a home health nurse,” Strickland said. “I just put that on there as tight as I could...Just prayed and talked with you.”

Jonesboro Police Investigator Michael Talley, who just happens to be an instructor for the Stop the Bleeding Foundation, climbed into the back of McBroome’s truck to help.

He applied another tourniquet from behind because her door would not open.

“I could see blood running out of the vehicle and that tells me that it’s life-threatening bleeding,” Talley said.

“In my mind, I thought she was gonna... her heart is going to stop at any minute, and I’ve got to get in there to do CPR on this lady. How am I gonna do that? What am I gonna do?” Strickland said.

But McBroome hung on through incredible pain.

“Now ma’am, I know it hurts right now,” as the last tourniquet was applied.

“You will have to go to Memphis,” a medic said as McBroome closed her eyes.

Calls are made for a medical helicopter to fly McBroome to the Med in Memphis.

“Did she lose her arm?” a woman asks. Hearing that things are not looking good, she cries out, “Nooooo!”

Emotions were running high for everyone on the scene.

McBroome is finally loaded into a Medic One ambulance.

“Good job on the tourniquet!” one medic said.

“Hey she did it!” a JPD officer said and pointed to Strickland.

She answers, “Thank you for all that you do.”

“What’s your name?” the officer asks as he works to clean up the scene.

“Jennifer Strickland. I’m a home health nurse,” she said.

Just over a month later, we arranged for McBroome and Strickland to meet again.

“I know I’m supposed to ‘air hug,’” McBroome said. But, I can’t do just that as she embraces Strickland. “Thank you so much!”

Seven surgeries later, McBroome is thankful to be alive.

“I am a miracle. I’ve got lots more things to do,” McBroome said. “God’s got big plans for me and I am looking forward to the rest of my life.”

...especially life as a grandmother of two. She’s been given a second chance at life.

“That’s why we’re all here today because of you, and that moment you chose to do what some people would be scared of doing,” I said to Strickland.

“You were able to save a life. Lisa’s life--you are the next winner in the Gr8 Acts of Kindness!” I announced, and the crowd of personnel from First Community Bank and St. Bernards Home Health erupts into applause.

“Four hundred, five, six, seven, eight. Four-hundred-8 dollars!” I count into Strickland’s hand.

“You were certainly an angel and a hero that day,” Allen Williams, community president of First Community Bank, said. “And there’s a lot of people that wouldn’t stop and certainly the fact that you have a caring spirit.”

“I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart. You will always be my friend and angels,” McBroome said to Strickland and Talley.

“We’re glad you’re with us,” Officer Talley said.

“Thank you,” McBroome said. “I’m happy to be here.”

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