Educational Resources

“Kevin” (not a real person) celebrated his 49th birthday in great apparent health. That’s why it was a shock when, after a burning, painful tightness in his chest hit him during a neighborhood jog, examinations revealed that two of his coronary arteries were more than 90 percent blocked. The bad news: Kevin would need heart bypass surgery. The good news: he was otherwise in great health, as he’d believed, and could expect to be back at his job in about four months.

“Juan” was really good at putting up siding. Vinyl siding, wood siding, veneers, even stucco; Juan could hang it quickly and hang it properly. He’d quickly become “the man” for siding at the small construction firm where he had begun working a few weeks earlier. That’s why Juan (not a real person) was part of the two-man crew that the company had assigned that morning to a last-minute, rush siding job that had been called in late the previous afternoon.

“Just one more ride, Mom,” the boy had pleaded. The ride was on the way out of the fairgrounds, and the family had just enough tickets left for the boy and one of his parents. “Jessica” was tired, as she, her husband “James” and their son “Ryan” (not real persons) had been at the fair since the middle of the afternoon. But the ride would take only a few minutes, and there was no point in letting the tickets go to waste.