When math teacher Dean Linder showed up to work at Columbus High School on Feb. 24, he never imagined his day would take the turn it did with students and colleagues rushing to his aid as blood pooled out of his shoe.
In a rush to get a paper to a student, Linder thought he only scraped his ankle on a sharp corner of his desk, but it turned out to be much more severe.
“I didn’t realize it at the time, but it sliced across my ankle bone,” Linder said. “I said, ‘Ow,’ but I was in a hurry and wanted to get (the paper) down the hallway before class really got started. … When I went up to the door to give the paper to the (student’s teacher), another teacher was there. They said, ‘Mr. Linder, you’ve got blood coming out of your shoe.’ I looked down, and I slid my foot — there was a blood scrape across the floor. I said, ‘I must’ve stepped in something.’ She said, ‘No, it’s coming out of your shoe.’ I pulled up my pant-leg, which was just all blood. I pulled my leg out, and it was dripping on the floor — drip, drip, drip. I said, ‘I’m bleeding to death.’”
U.S. History teacher Alissa Wriley-Bafford, who students call “Mrs. Wriley,” and sophomore student Zion Doss ran to help Linder. Doss, a vocational medical technology student, took off her own belt and quickly looped it onto Linder’s left calf above the cut to slow the bleeding.
Sophomore Aliyiah Richey was down the hall, saw the commotion and jumped into action when she was called upon to run for paper towels. Her duties didn’t stop at paper towels — she also equipped Wriley and Doss with gloves.
“At first I thought Mr. Linder fell, and I didn’t really know what was going on because it was all the way down the hall,” Richey said. “I saw Mr. Linder sitting down, and Mr. (Darrell) Jones said to get some paper towels. I’m thinking they just need a couple pieces, then he told me they needed a whole roll. … I have a big fear of blood, so whenever I see blood it makes me want to panic. At the time, I was just thinking that maybe he, Mrs. Wriley and Zion just need help. There was so much blood, and I just thought I should act with humility.”
Wriley said by the time Linder passed her room, a streak of blood began to follow him about 30 feet down the hall to where he was. From there, she began directing people to call administration, security and 911.
“It was a lot of blood,” Wriley said. “It looked like a murder scene. It really did. … It was just squirting out like a water hose, like a sprinkler. (Doss) kept the tourniquet and would pull it tighter. I kept (holding it) until the paramedics took over. … We just needed to help him, and I didn’t think twice about it.”
Doss, who wants to one day work in the medical field, said she didn’t even think about what was going on and saw someone needed help.
“In a situation like that, the worst thing that could possibly happen is everybody around him panicking, and no one taking action to help,” Doss said. “In my mind, I was just thinking, ‘This is a job. I have to help him and stop the bleeding, then everything else comes after.’”
The trio helped Linder as administration arrived, and continued helping by tightening the belt tourniquet and keeping pressure on the cut until paramedics eventually took over the scene, no more than 10 minutes after the call was placed.
Before Linder returned to work on Wednesday, he wanted to make sure he thanked everyone involved in helping him at the school, especially the students. He now keeps a medical tourniquet at his desk out of precaution.
“This school, all of the people here are like a family — they all help each other,” Linder said. “There’s very nice faculty and very good students. … Thank God I had some people who could help. I’ve never met a teacher at this school who wasn’t completely dedicated to the students, and I’ve never had any trouble with the students. They’re very good.”
Though Doss foresees a career in the medical field, Richey aspires to be a software engineer. Both Doss and Richey said they often feel underestimated as students who go to CHS, but this incident proves they learn life skills that could impact others positively.
“I feel like we (at CHS) do get a bad reputation, and most people think we’re not as bright,” Richey said. “I feel like you can really do anything. I believe you put yourself into the place you are in your life. Despite what people say about your school, you can still do anything even if people don’t think you’re smart enough.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 44 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 44 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
