Jeannine, the Superfan!
March 2, 2014
This is Jeannine Goossens Sirault, a true Superfan of the Brussels fire department. Posing in-between some of the last recruits that will start to work in our department.
I got to know her in the Sint Pieter Hospital in Brussels. I saw an her arriving at the ER. The ER of the Sint Pieters Hospital can be a bit hectic. So I walked up to her to ask wether she needed help. She was helping her husband who had a mild injury to the head that needed attention. Just the fact that she decided to come to the hospital on her own means deserves respect. Many younger people these days would have called for an ambulance. It tells something about this lady. And when I informed why she didn't call us, she replied "You guys have more import and work to do..." It stunned me.
She asked for my name and the same night I got mentioned on her blog page with a thank you form her side. It is al you need when you do this job with your hearth. Since then we keep running in to each other. Sometimes I am working, she's taking pictures. Or we are both taking pictures. Which has the nice result that you get some pictures of yourself.
Jeannine is a special person. In times, when social media are winning terrain on real human contact she is out there. Backing up publicly the Brussels fire department via the social media with her blog about us.
She carries the Brussels fire department in her hearth. This respectable lady won't hesitate to jump on a public bus, nor to dive into the subway if it can get her closer to an intervention where we are working. Her ears are like a radar, looking for the siren of our firetrucks or ambulances.
If she can, she is there and will take some pictures. With all this material she is keeping an amazing blog. Since May 2009 she is writing about us and posting pictures. The nice thing about this is that she has time and the resources to 'go back into time'. From time to time she pops out one of those pictures from the 'old days'. Always nice to see. The amount of material that she has gathered is really impressive.
Jeannine, I would like to thank you for you support. Whatever some may say, it is appreciated.
Pieter.