Three young men who were looking to make some cash shoveling driveways did their best to save a life but unfortunately despite their best efforts the man they saved didn't make it.
Rich Wright and brothers Chris and Shane Lechette were driving around their Claymont, Del. neighborhood Wednesday when they saw something on the unit block of Miles Road that made them stop in their tracks.
“The first thing I said was, ‘Guys, I think someone is laying there…someone's arm,’ so we hopped out,” said Chris Lechette.
The young men ran up to find 85-year-old Carma Tribbold covered in snow and not doing well. Tribbold was shoveling his own snow -- something he wouldn't allow others to do for him, neighbors said.
“I mean we were in shock... the guy is 80 years old -- he's out here buried in the snow,” said Wright.
“We had to dust him off when we got him on the porch,” Chris Lechette said.
Chris and Shane both have had CPR training. The Lechettes roused Tribbold with a sternum rub technique and then the elderly man asked them to sit him upright.
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Paramedics took him to a local hospital where he was listed in critical condition. But Tribbold didn't make it and was pronounced dead Thursday night.
Tribbold had lived in the neighborhood for years, neighbors said.
The story underscores the need for some older people and those with health concerns to avoid the health risks that could come from shoveling snow, Dr. Craig Hochstein, Bayhealth Emergency Department medical director, told the News Journal.
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