LUCERNE VALLEY — With just over 200 acres, the sprawling Omya mining plant high above the town of Lucerne Valley has an ample amount of nooks and crannies rarely traveled by workers or visitors.
Luckily for one woman who had wandered onto the property, a hunch led one employee to put on his hard hat, get into a pickup truck and explore the back forty. That move probably saved the life of the woman. (Her family said she didn't want her name used in publication.)
Barry Padfield, the shipping and packaging manager for the dry grinding facility that provides bright white calcium carbonate products, was about to go into town to pick up pizzas as a staff reward on a recent Friday. A co-worker said he noticed what appeared to be an abandoned vehicle at a rarely used dump area near train tracks.
"It's not an area that we go to frequently," he said.
Padfield decided the pizzas could wait and instead hopped into a pickup truck and drove to the area to check out the vehicle. "I thought I'd better check out the vehicle," said Padfield who has been with Omya for 10 years.
About 10 feet from the tracks, he saw a body. A middle-aged woman was laying face down, curled up in a semi fetal position — and unconscious, he said.
"I stopped my vehicle and got out," he recalled. "I shook her foot. She was not responding." So he radioed a coworker for help and to call 9-1-1.
"I finally got her to open her eyes. It was triple digits, 108."
A former member of the Apple Valley Search and Rescue team, Padfield recognized the symptoms — possible heat stroke. (His wife is a nurse). Once a person has gotten too weak that they collapse, the next thing that could happen is extremely dire.
"If they don't get help, they end up dying," he said.
He and others from Omya helped her to sip on water before paramedics arrived. The paramedics gave her emergency treatment and she was taken to a local hospital, where she recovered from her ordeal.
"If we didn't go out there I think she might have been deceased," he said.
Padfield talked to the woman's son who said he was grateful and that his mother was getting better. It was unclear why she drove to the remote area of Lucerne Valley, Padfield said. The family had been looking for her for several days, according to the son.
Omya plant manager Dave Harp is extremely impressed with Padfield's effort and potentially life-saving good deed.
"I want to recognize Barry for doing a solid," Harp said.
Padfield responded, "Others helped too."