BANGOR – Mary McCarthy of Bangor is quick to point out that she’s a registered independent.

She’s also a nurse who is quick to call on people when and where they are needed – even if it’s the president of the United States.

So when McCarthy was nursing a 20-year-old woman who had collapsed during President Bush’s campaign rally in Bangor last Thursday, she found herself beckoning Bush as he was leaving.

She didn’t need his help. McCarthy just wanted the ailing woman to meet the president.

They met, and before it was over, Bush was using a marker to sign shirts, including McCarthy’s nursing scrubs.

McCarthy, 36, was one of a handful of medical volunteers who scurried among the thousands of Bush supporters gathered outside a hangar at Bangor International Airport last Thursday, handing out water and sunscreen to the 10,000 people who waited for hours in the hot sun to hear the president’s campaign speech.

When the president arrived, McCarthy tucked herself into a spot up front to the side of the stage. Five minutes into the speech, a Secret Service agent yelled to McCarthy that somebody had collapsed in the front row.

Secret Service agents helped McCarthy get the woman over a fence that separated the president from the crowd and let them enter a hangar that was serving as a restricted area.

“We walk in and there are these five men all dressed in tactical gear with ammo just covering their bodies,” McCarthy said. “One of them put down his machine gun to help me get this girl down to the floor.”

The woman was dizzy, shaky and unable to walk on her own. A man and a woman approached and introduced themselves as the president’s doctor and nurse. They assisted McCarthy by getting her cold compresses and taking the young woman’s blood pressure.

Once she started to feel better, the woman told McCarthy that she was a 20-year-old nursing student at Husson College and had volunteered to park cars all day at the rally so that she could snag a VIP pass and get a front row spot to see President Bush.

“She was deeply disappointed. She had worked hard all day out in that sun, and she collapses right after he arrives,” McCarthy said.

“Suddenly there was this flurry of activity, and I knew the president was coming through. So I helped get her up so that we could at least get a glimpse of him,” McCarthy said. “We see this line of Secret Service agents and then, in between them, you could just see this tint of a light blue oxford shirt. [Bush] was probably 30 yards away.”

McCarthy doesn’t know why she did what she did next.

She hadn’t planned it. But holding up the ailing woman, McCarthy began to motion to the president and yell for him to come over. “I don’t actually remember if I said ‘Hey, come here,’ or not, but it was something like that,” she said.

Suddenly Bush took a sharp left-hand turn away from his Secret Service agents, who at this point were “freaking out,” McCarthy said.

She simply told Bush of the woman’s plight and how hard the volunteer had worked before collapsing from the heat.

“The president put her face right between his hands and asked if she was OK and thanked her for volunteering. Well, by this time tears are streaming down her face,” McCarthy said.

Staff had gathered, and the president asked for a nearby photographer to take his picture with McCarthy and the young woman, then made sure that a picture would be sent to both of them.

As Bush chatted, a man straggled in with a 12-year-old girl who also had collapsed from heat exhaustion.

“Bush sees her and goes right over. She was in quite bad shape. She was in a fog. So all of a sudden he stands in front of her and starts wailing his arms around and saying, ‘Hey, do you know who I am?’ and the poor girl was so sick all she could do was nod no,” McCarthy said.

Bush remained until he learned the girl was going to be OK, then he “pulled out a Sharpie, just like a rock star, and started signing people’s shirts, including my nursing scrubs,” McCarthy said.

She still shakes her head a bit when she ponders why she suddenly gestured to the president.

“It was just instinct. I wanted him to meet this young lady,” she said.

“This isn’t about being a Republican or a Democrat,” McCarthy said. “This was the president of the United States, and he and his whole staff were just so kind. They just went out of their way and I was just really impressed,” she said.

So the independent nurse from Bangor brushed off the Secret Service and protocol for just a minute or so, but a young nursing student got the memory of a lifetime and Bush secured the vote of at least one independent.