Theresa Braine
New York Daily News
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Nurse Rachel Taylor didn’t hesitate when she and her husband pulled over at the scene of an accident, rushing over to tend to one of the victims.
Never mind that she was still sporting a voluminous white gown.
The Minnesota newlyweds were driving home from their wedding on Father’s Day when they witnessed an accident in South St. Paul, the Twin Cities Pioneer Press reported.
“I saw a couple of people dragging a woman over to the side of the road,” Taylor, 22, told the Pioneer Press. “I could see a gash in her right leg. I think I saw her bone in it.”
It was Tamara Peterson, who had rushed over herself upon getting a call from her son about an accident he’d been in. While she was on scene inspecting the damage, a black Chevy Blazer barreled through the intersection, pinning her against one of the wrecked cars.
She found herself incapacitated at the side of the road – and in the arms of a bride.
As luck would have it, Taylor had recently earned a nursing degree.
Adoring, newly minted husband Calvin Taylor, 23, photographed the spectacle of his “rock-star” wife and posted it to Facebook.
“On our way back to our home after an amazing and beautiful wedding day, literally blocks from our new home, we saw a large SUV crash into another accident involving three other vehicles,” he wrote. “As we pulled over, we saw people pulling a woman from between two cars with a gash in her leg that went down to her femur. My rock star of a bride gets out of the car, wedding dress and all, and rushes over to help while I called 911.”
He described how Taylor cradled Peterson and kept her calm.
“She held her for at least 15 minutes until the EMTs got her on a stretcher,” he wrote. “I am so blessed to have a wonderful wife who will always take care of people who need it, and we were blessed that we were able to be in the right place at the right time to make a difference.”
For her part, Rachel Taylor said, in nursing school she had developed a knack for soothing women in labor. She used some of the same tactics on Peterson.
“I just went into nurse mode,” Taylor told the Pioneer Press. “It seemed pretty natural. I was pretty surprised. I’ve always been lacking in confidence about my nursing abilities, so it was nice to see that in a situation like that, I knew what to do.”
“She kept me calm,” Peterson told WCCO-TV. “I think she helped save my life even more, you know, just physically and mentally being there at that time.”
The couple left for their honeymoon the next day, as planned.
“Rachel and I are on our way to our honeymoon, and I am still blown away that she got out of the car in a scary situation to do what she does best,” Curtis Taylor wrote. “I can’t wait for a hospital to scoop her up so she can make a difference in people’s lives every day.”
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