SALEM (WSLS) In an act of compassion six staff members at the Salem VA Medical Center rushed to help a 14-year-old boy scout who fell off a ledge during a hike on Saturday.
Registered nurse Tammy Angell was one of the first on scene.
"We saw this two young boys start to climb up on this ledge and suddenly one of them slipped and fell. We ran to see what assistance we could be to him," said Angell.
Dallas Vanover was hiking at Devils Marble Yard in Rockbridge County with his boy scouts troop from Chesterfield County. The 14-year-old slipped on a rock, falling about 15 feet.
More people were called to help-which happens to be more nurses and workers from the Salem VA.
"Every 15 minutes I would recheck to see he could still feel and move everything. He had bruising on his forehead from where he hit his head on the rock, so we were concerned he injured his neck also," said Renee Belliveau.
Others kept the teen distracted and calm until emergency officials could get to the hiking trail
"I went over to the young man and sat with him and conducted some breathing exercises to help calm. He was in a little bit of a panic understandbly and we talk about Harry Potter and his classes and older siblings," said Katelyn Creedon, social worker at Acute medicine at Salem.
"If they needed anything. Letting them know where EMS was on the trail since they did have to hike in just like we did," said Becca Cantrell-Clinical Nurse leader
Dallas was hospitalized for two days. He's still recovering from a fracture to his back, sprained ankle and broken foot and will be out of school for the rest of the semester.
"We appreciate everything everyone did for him. It was nice thing to have all those people there to help him when he really needed it," said Ric Vanover, father. After an emotional ordeal, the Salem VA employees say they plan to keep a close relationship with Dallas in the future.