From Hidden Brain Media, I'm Shankar Vedantam.

This is my unsung hero.

Story is where one person reached out to help another in a time of need.

My story is about a group of unsung heroes.

He just pulled up a chair and we talked, I'd say for about 90 minutes or so.

I don't know if she really understands or appreciates the full impact that she's had in my life

and still continues to have.

Today's story comes from a 17-year-old girl named Clarice.

We're using only her first name to protect her privacy.

When Clarice was 14 years old, she was admitted to an emergency room in the midst of a mental

health crisis.

After she arrived, she was repeatedly asked by medical staff to explain why she was there.

It was painful and exhausting.

But eventually, she got to meet her two unsung heroes, the EMTs, who took her by ambulance from the ER to the psychiatric ward.

She remembers their names were Hugh and either Alexis or Alexa.

The two of them walk in. They put me on a stretcher, and I felt terrible because my dirty, stinky feet were in his face as both of them wheeled me to the ambulance.

The thing that particularly stands out about this moment, though, is when they finally got me in the ambulance and they asked me what music I liked. And if you know me, you know that my immediate answer was Taylor Swift. And we decided together that they were going to play Taylor Swift Reputation, her album.

And, you know, they didn't make me talk about what had happened.

Not that it was their job, but they could have.

They didn't question it.

It didn't feel like they were judging me.

They just played Taylor Swift.

...