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Distance-learning hero: Missouri 11-year-old rescues grandmother with help from teachers on Zoom

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — A quick-thinking Missouri boy is being heralded a hero after reaching out the only way he knew how after his grandmother suffered a nasty fall.

Janel Maclean said it was unusual for Kaleb Greenough to be late for class, and when he logged in tardy on that particular day, she could tell something was troubling him.

“He was so calm and collected, but I could tell that he wanted to speak with me, so I just said, like, ‘Hey Caleb, what’s up?’, and he messaged on the chat, ‘Can you please call my mom for me?’” Maclean told KSDK.

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Greenough, 11, was the only one home when his grandmother, Sherri Bell – who is legally blind, disabled and on kidney dialysis – fell, and he was afraid he might injure her further if he attempted to help her up, the TV station reported.

Greenough said he tried to call for help, but the phone was not working, so logging in to art class seemed like the best option, KSDK reported.

Maclean told the TV station that when she could not reach Greenough’s mother, she patched Parkwood Elementary School Principal Melissa Yount-Ott into the Zoom call, and the rescue became a group effort.

“I was really focused on asking Caleb questions trying to really determine what the situation was. I needed to know if we needed to call 911,” Yount-Ott told KSDK.

And although Mclean could tell that Bell was “stressed and upset” by the situation, the art teacher said Greenough never lost his cool.

“He was so just kind with her … He was able to calm her,” Maclean recalled.

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The TV station confirmed that Bell is “doing OK” after paramedics drove right past the house, forcing Greenough to flag down a police cruiser that he spotted driving by a short time later.

“I had to run outside to wave him over,” he told KSDK.

When paramedics arrived, and everyone relaxed a little, Yount-Ott said Greenough’s poise throughout what could have been a traumatic event left her in awe.

“His confidence and his pride in the whole situation was just very, very impressive,” Yount-Ott told KSDK.