Jersey City strangers aid woman overcome by heat

Published: Saturday, July 23, 2011, 3:00 AM
By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal

As the temperature reached 103 degrees a woman staggered off the sidewalk and into the Sunflower Cafe on Journal Square just after 12:30 p.m. yesterday.

Inside, people were watching a news broadcast on the heat wave showing images of eggs frying on pavement and cookies baking inside a car.

The woman went unnoticed for a moment until a customer came to her aid and helped her to stand while a man behind the counter snatched a water bottle from a cooler and handed it to her.

Calls went out for a chair and a cold towel, and soon the woman was surrounded by a half-dozen people trying to help. Someone dialed 911.

Unable to communicate with the woman, who spoke Arabic, a customer ran around the corner to Radio Shack and grabbed Amanda Rasslam, who rushed to store. Rasslam spoke to the woman and comforted her as firefighters arrived and administered oxygen. An ambulance soon arrived.

?She said she was so overheated and she was so thankful so many people were willing to help her,? said Rasslam as she walked back to Radio Shack on Bergen Avenue.

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