LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A United States Navy veteran in Carrollton said a police welfare check saved his life.
George Moore, 58, was diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier this month. Moore said he started the week sick, in bed and struggling.
"I started throwing up," he said. "I destroyed my bed. I destroyed my carpet in my house. It was bad."
Moore had already been to the hospital once and released, but he said the coronavirus almost killed him.
"Couldn't hardly breathe," he said. "My oxygen level dropped down to 80s. Didn't think I was going to make it."
Moore said despite being a Navy Veteran, being COVID-19 positive made getting to the VA Medical Center a challenge and his last trip to the hospital in an ambulance was at least $1,800. So he called, hoping to get some medical advice over the phone.
"I told the lady at the VA, I said, 'I guess I am just going to have to lay down and die,'" Moore said.
The woman on the other end of the phone contacted the Carroll County Sheriff's Department and asked for a welfare check.
"He was very weak,"Â said Deputy Aaron Blanton with Carroll County Sheriff's Department. "He had a hard time standing up. He definitely, in my opinion, needed medical attention."
George Moore
Blanton knew Moore needed to be taken to the hospital, but he also knew there was a risk.
"I explained to him that I had COVID," Moore said. "His response was, 'Sir, you put your life on the line for me, my loved ones and my country. Today, I'm going to put my life on the line for you.'
"I said, 'You obviously need medical attention. I am not going to sit here and not get you that because you're sick,'" Blanton said. "We eventually came to the conclusion that he was going to ride with me to the hospital."
With both wearing PPE, Blanton rushed Moore to Carroll County Memorial Hospital.
"If it hadn't been for Aaron Blanton, I wouldn't be here today," Moore said. "It's as simple as that. The doctors told me that if I went to bed, I wouldn't have woke up."
"I wasn't aware of that," Blanton said. "If that's what he said, I'm glad I took him to the hospital."
Before transporting Moore, Deputy called his sheriff to get permission. Not only did Sheriff Ryan Gosser approve the trip, but he also praised his deputy for his actions.
"Deputy Blanton goes above and beyond whatever we ask him to do, all of the time,"Â Gosser said. "So, no, it does not surprise me that he did that.
"There was a large sense of pride that Aaron was willing to do that. And like he said earlier, we all place our lives on the line every day, and he was willingly doing that."
Blanton and his wife have one child and one scheduled to be delivered Thursday morning. Moore said that makes the deputy's actions even more heroic.
"That means the world to me," Moore said. "He's definitely my hero."
Moore was released from the hospital Tuesday, and his latest COVID-19 test was negative. Right now, he still recovering but hopes to reconnect with Blanton one day soon. Â
Copyright 2021 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
