My Dad Slid Off A Residential Roof, Update: Pics

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O

Ornery

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
20,022
17
81
He was working on a Habitat For Humanity house near here. Most of the house has a 6/12 pitch, which is OK, but the porch he was working on has an 8/12 pitch. He was near the peak and started sliding. He knew he was screwed right away, so he prepared to jump off in some kind of controlled manner. He purposely landed on his feet and rolled, but it did serious damage to both feet. One broken right ankle and a broken heal on the left foot.

They took him to a local hospital, and after X-rays, sent him to Cleveland Metrohealth. He had one of the best doctors in the country operate on the right leg last night. I guess they'll be doing the left heal tomorrow. I imagine he'll be using a wheel chair. I'll probably be building a ramp, as well as moving his PC downstairs. I also think this is coming out of his insurance pocket, but I'm not sure. They wanted to give him a helicopter ride from one hospital to the other, and he refused, because he didn't want to pay $4,000.00 for it!

Man, he's going to be fit to be tied. He HATES sitting around. My step-mother is going to drive him buggy! No good deed goes unpunished, eh? Well, I'm off to Cleveland...
 
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d33pt

Diamond Member
Jan 12, 2001
5,654
1
81
better broken feet than back. i'm sure he'll be fine soon..sounds like he's an active guy..
 
brigden

brigden

Diamond Member
Dec 22, 2002
8,702
2
81
Originally posted by: werk
Damn that sucks. How old is your dad?
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Well, judging by Ornery's posts, I would assume Ornery to be in his early 60s, that would make his old man about 80 something.

Dude, how can you let your 80-year-old father climb on roofs?
 
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OffTopic1

Golden Member
Feb 12, 2004
1,764
0
0

Sorry to hear that.

Funny, less than 30 min ago I was in the back yard trying to get upon the roof to put some mesh over the roof ventilation holes to keep the damned squirrel. Good thing that I didn?t try it, because the 30? ladder is too short to have a good sturdy pitch. I don?t want to be in the same predicament as your dad, so it is time to call in the professional.
 
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Amorphus

Diamond Member
Mar 31, 2003
5,561
1
0
Sucks, but this gives your dad some time to do some of the things middle-aged people wish they had time to do (well, at least, he'll be able to do some of them). Hope he gets better soon.

btw - I've never seen (delta)Y/(delta)X actually used outside of coordinate graphs. Always saw degrees, so that tripped me up for a second. :)

*edit*
bah, what font set does ATOT use? trying to do Delta, but it won't let me.
 
XZeroII

XZeroII

Lifer
Jun 30, 2001
12,572
0
0
Originally posted by: Nohr
Ouch! I've never heard of a broken heel before. :Q:(
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A friend of mine completely shattered his heel and they had to replace it with a plastic one.
 
Nohr

Nohr

Diamond Member
Jan 6, 2001
7,302
32
101
www.flickr.com
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
Originally posted by: Nohr
Ouch! I've never heard of a broken heel before. :Q:(
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just look at a skeleton, its just a long bone.
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Yeah I don't doubt it at all, it's just not really something I've ever thought about. Sounds really painful. *shudders*
 
alkemyst

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
sliding off a roof is some scary stuff....I was pressure cleaning my first one ever (of course like most of the stuff I do alone and just read up on the details ahead of time)....what I didn't know is how slippery the stuff can get.

I was at the peak and the pressure hose wasn't long enough, so I gave it a good tug and my feet slipped out from under me and I started to slide.

The main problem was is this was right where the concrete path to my door was, as well as the pressure cleaner...I actually stopped sliding once I was mid thigh off the roof. My neighbor witnessed all this and gave me a 'boost' back onto the roof. He was a professional at one point in roofing and helped me do the tile edges as well as gave me some pointers :)

Å
 
waggy

waggy

No Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
68,143
10
81
my step-father owns a contracting company out in Oregon.

One of the things they do is roofs. I was helping him on a 2 story house when he slid off the darn thing. Luckily he landed on the garbage pile and only had a few bruises. usually they are tied on with safety harnes's but he was just checking the guys work when it happened.

They had one guy fall off a 2 1/2 story house and get pretty messed up. after that they all had wear a safety harness.
 
O

Ornery

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
20,022
17
81
Ugh. 30 minute trip, followed by 30 minutes of wondering through the huge complex.

My dad's 67 years old, and will NOT slow down. He's always looking for something to do. They put him in a room with another builder, who had a ladder slide out from under him. He broke both legs also. He's in there for the second time in 3 weeks, so I have a feeling my dad will be in and out of there, too.

He's talking about taking the time to write about his life and what not. I'd like to get him something to type on, that saves to floppy or something. That way he can easily transfer it to his PC when he gets home. We couldn't afford a laptop, and I'm not sure that would be good to have in that setting anyway. It might get stolen, and might interfere with their equipment. Any idea what else might work, especially something available used?

Thanks for the good wishes. He's in good spirits, and feels lucky it wasn't worse... ME TOO!
 
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Ausm

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
25,213
14
81
4K for a helicopter ride is cheap compared to what they charge where I live


7K to 10K


Sysadmin
 
waggy

waggy

No Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
68,143
10
81
Originally posted by: Sysadmin
4K for a helicopter ride is cheap compared to what they charge where I live


7K to 10K


Sysadmin
Click to expand...

yeah my daughter had siezures when she was around 6 weeks old. they flew her to a hospital about 45minutes away (by car).

When we got the bill (copy sent to insurance) it was 10k for the helicopter ride up there. man i was soo happy to have insurance heh.
 
Koing

Koing

Elite Member <br> Super Moderator<br> Health and F
Oct 11, 2000
16,843
2
0
Hope your father gets better asap.

Koing
 
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PoPPeR

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 2002
6,993
0
0
Originally posted by: Sysadmin
4K for a helicopter ride is cheap compared to what they charge where I live


7K to 10K


Sysadmin
Click to expand...
2 hours in ER cost 6,000!@#. All it was was a bladder infection with a fever too.

 
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przero

Platinum Member
Dec 30, 2000
2,060
0
0
67 years old and still working on roofs! I proud for him. I hope he gets well soon.
 
TallBill

TallBill

Lifer
Apr 29, 2001
46,017
62
91
wow, that sucks.. at least he didnt get seriously hurt. it sounds like he'll be back to 100% in a few months? definitly coulda been worse.
 
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