This week’s safety story is a personal one. Krista Bartlett is a pulp and paper industry specialist at SafeStart and she’s used to hearing clients tell SafeStart stories. But today she’s going to tell one of her own—and it’s about a time when it was more than just her own well-being on the line.

My story occurred on September 22, 2013. It was a beautiful autumn Sunday morning and my husband, Jeff was tossing the football with our 14 year old daughter, Reese. I drove to the nearby high school turf field to pick up Reese, so Jeff could play in his weekly pick-up football game. Jeff has always been an athlete, and at age 43, he still “liked to play” as he always had. I watched my husband and daughter “goof around” on the field for a bit, waved goodbye to Jeff and Reese and I drove home.

When we arrived at home, I decided to have a relaxing bubble-bath. Suddenly, Reese came into the bathroom with the phone. It was one of the guys from the football field. He said Jeff had “fallen down on the field” quite suddenly. I asked if the injuries were internal or external. When he told me the injuries were “internal”, my heart fell into my stomach. I was told the paramedics were working on Jeff, and he was going to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. I said I would meet the ambulance at the hospital. I jumped out of the bath, threw on the first clothes I could find and prepared for the scariest drive of my life.

If it hadn’t been for SafeStart, the program that has been my career for almost eight years, I don’t know how I would have driven to the hospital. My state of mind was beyond distressed, yet I somehow had to get Reese and myself to the hospital safely. My SafeStart habits automatically kicked in. I self-triggered on my state of mind and realized it would be nearly impossible to keep my eyes and mind on task. But you need to be thinking about what you are doing and see what you are doing in order to operate a car!

Thanks to her SafeStart habits, Krista and Reese arrived at the hospital safely, and Jeff ended up making a full recovery. But things could have ended up a lot differently if it weren’t for the quick thinking of both Jeff’s friends and Krista.

It’s no surprise that SafeStart stories are frequently about driving because drivers are at a serious risk of distraction, which can easily lead to a collision. An downloadable guide on distracted driving will discuss why drivers can get so distracted as well as what you can do about it.

And as Krista demonstrates in her story, no matter how pressing a distraction is, you always have the ability to focus on what you’re doing so that you can reach your destination safely.