With temperatures in the 90s, an ambulance was making round trips between the July 13 Pennsylvania Trump rally and the Butler Memorial Hospital. That is according to Karen Foerster, 53, who was among those overcome by the heat.
She and her husband Rick Foerster, 56, attend most Trump rallies within a 100-mile radius from their Beaver County, Pennsylvania, home. This time they had front row seats.
They arrived at 9 a.m. and gates opened at 1 p.m., but just as the first speakers started, Ms. Foerster was feeling sick from the heat. Her husband had gone to get some drinks in the car. She recalled seeing a shade tree when she entered through the event gate, so she decided to seek shade there. On her way, she ran into her husband with the drinks. He immediately recognized she was sick. He called for help and soon, a golf cart came along and whisked her to the medical tent. Before long, she was in an ambulance on her way to the hospital.
Medics told her there was also a car show at the airport and the hospital was very busy with many heat-related calls from both events. When they arrived, she said the waiting room was crowded.
Ms. Foerster went into a room with a nurse and noticed the nurse was watching the Trump rally on her computer. The nurse took her for a test and on their way back, the husband came running up to them with the news.
“I ran down the hallway toward the bathroom and I went, ‘Karen! Karen! Trump was just shot in the head,” Mr. Foerster told The Epoch Times. He had been near another rally attendee who received a phone call from someone still at the rally who reported what had happened.
The nurse and Ms. Foerster were in disbelief. A woman they met in the waiting room fell against the wall and immediately started crying.
They worried about their friends still at the rally: Were they in danger? And what did they see?
“What a horrible, horrible thing to witness,” Ms. Foerster told The Epoch Times.
She knew they were at the closest hospital and thought it was likely they would bring the former president there. A lot of people were crying. Most in the waiting room had heard the former president had been shot in the head but didn’t know he was able to walk to the car.
“Next thing I know, cops fly in, Secret Service flies up, and the shortest girl gets out, starts pointing at windows and doors, and telling people where to go,” Ms. Foerster said.
The hospital immediately went into lockdown, the Foersters said, and the computer system was down at that time, seemingly as part of the security protocol. People gathered by the window of the emergency room and watched as former President Trump emerged from his vehicle. They were elated once they saw him walking on his own. Secret Service had him surrounded.
Mr. Foerster recorded the moments on video and in photos. He did get one blurry photo of the former president. Most compelling were the voices of concern in the waiting room. Later they learned the bullet struck his ear and narrowly missed his skull.
At the same time former President Trump arrived, a state police vehicle that looked like it was part of the motorcade also arrived. That vehicle had a shattered front driver’s side window, and the people in the emergency room thought someone in that vehicle was being treated medically.
Waiting Room
Mr. Foerster announced to those in the waiting room that he and his wife were going to pray for the former president and invited others to join them in a corner.“We had four or five people come over and we just prayed and interceded for him. We held hands. Each one of us took a turn praying, and lifted him up,” Mr. Foerster said.
While in the waiting room, many people were comparing notes about the news coverage of the assassination attempt.
Mr. Foerster read a quote aloud, made by President Joe Biden days before.
“I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump. I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that. So, we’re done talking about the debate. It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye,” President Biden reportedly said on a private donor call.
The Secret Service overheard the word bullseye and took Mr. Foerster into a room for questioning. He explained that he was reading the news, that he loves former President Trump and has attended many of his rallies. The agent let him go.
No one was allowed to leave until former President Trump left. But this time, before he made his way to the car, the Secret Service came into the waiting room, closed the shades, and said, no more photos and videos, Mr. Foerster said.
It struck Ms. Foerster that they had witnessed a moment in history from a different vantage point than most people experienced that day. The couple left the hospital that evening, with Ms. Foerster in better health, and even a bit grateful that her illness sent them to the hospital, so they were not present for the shooting.
