A neighborhood hero
For Dan Groch, snowblowing the driveways of his elderly Des Plaines neighbors started out as a means to make money, but it was always much more than business.
"I just like to help people out," said the 19-year-old Elk Grove High School graduate.
Last week, Groch heard the yelps of a customer who lives on Ambleside in his Des Plaines subdivision.
He rang the doorbell. No one answered, so he knocked.
He heard a thump and a "loud screaming noise," he said.
Groch's elderly client had fallen and his wife wasn't home.
Thinking on his feet, Groch got into the house through the garage to find his neighbor sprawled near the front entrance, tangled in his oxygen tank.
"I open the door and step over him and there is like blood everywhere. He hit is head. It was just a very bad sight," he said.
Though the blood made him queasy, Groch ran next door and asked a neighbor to call 911, then returned to stay with his elderly neighbor until paramedics arrived.
Neighbor John Theobald was so impressed with Groch's quick-thinking and concern, he called the Daily Herald to let the world know about the Good Samaritan.
"If he wasn't there at that particular time, I don't know how long that gentleman would be laying there," Theobald said. "Nice fella."