Rescuing a Heroine

We were responding to a call just a few blocks away from our local rural hospital.  Over the howl of the siren we heard from dispatch that we would be responding for a fall victim.  These types of calls are usually fairly minor. An elderly person (in most cases) falls, is bruised and a little battered but is overall fine.  Every once in a while you get someone that falls and smacks their head damn good causing a cerebral bleed.
We arrived on scene to find an older lady being helped by several bystanders.  The 64 year old woman had been walking to the hospital, where she volunteers four times a week... and has been doing so for the past 11 years!  While walking to her destination, the sidewalk reached up and tripped her.  She managed to stop her fall with her forehead.
The entire time we were there, she kept making jokes.  She thought that it was ironic that she was going to be checking in as a patient herself and not there to visit her patients as she normally does.  It was nice to see such a big smile on her face despite the rather large bleeding gash she received from the fall.  She had split her head open just below the hairline above her left eye.  She would most likely need a few stitches.
As we took her vitals and finished cleaning her up, her mood turned to more somber.  She advised us that in over 11 years as a volunteer at the hospital, she had never been late for a shift because she knows how much her patients look forward to her visits... how much the nurses have come to rely on her as a second pair of hands.
I assured her that when she shows up in our red and white rescue chariot, they would forgive any tardiness.
No one should be more cherished in this world than someone who lightens the burden of another.  In my opinion, she's definitely a Heroine!