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I got a call for a welfare check today on an 80 yoa woman.
Details:
The postman called 911 saying that this particular woman hasn't gotten the mail from her mailbox in 3 days and has several newspapers on her porch. He can't get her to answer her door, requests a welfare check.
The ambulace service gets there first, and when I arrive they say they've checked the house and it's locked up tight. They can't get anyone to the door, and the mail/papers are piling up. Her car is in the carport. They have found one window that is unlocked, but it's basically locked shut from years of accumulated paint.
I check the house, and from all the details I can gather, there is enough reason to make a forced entry to check on the welfare of this elderly person. It's a risk we take, and most of the time we break a window for nothing, but still I feel the need is present.
I find a 4 tined garden pitchfork and use it to pry the one unlocked window. After getting it to budge, I got the window open enough for one of the ambulance guys to climb in. As soon as he gets in, he yells out that she is down in the hall. He lets us in and they start checking her vitals. She appears to have been down for a couple of days, is severly dehydrated and conscious, but not coherent. The AC in the house is turned off and it feels like an oven in there. We get her loaded in the ambulance and she is transported.
We secured the house and left, but it felt good to know we probably saved her life.
I'm going to call down to the postal station tomorrow and try to do something to recognize the postman. If it wasn't for his observation and caring, she would have probably died soon.
Oh, and her DL was found. She is 81.
Details:
The postman called 911 saying that this particular woman hasn't gotten the mail from her mailbox in 3 days and has several newspapers on her porch. He can't get her to answer her door, requests a welfare check.
The ambulace service gets there first, and when I arrive they say they've checked the house and it's locked up tight. They can't get anyone to the door, and the mail/papers are piling up. Her car is in the carport. They have found one window that is unlocked, but it's basically locked shut from years of accumulated paint.
I check the house, and from all the details I can gather, there is enough reason to make a forced entry to check on the welfare of this elderly person. It's a risk we take, and most of the time we break a window for nothing, but still I feel the need is present.
I find a 4 tined garden pitchfork and use it to pry the one unlocked window. After getting it to budge, I got the window open enough for one of the ambulance guys to climb in. As soon as he gets in, he yells out that she is down in the hall. He lets us in and they start checking her vitals. She appears to have been down for a couple of days, is severly dehydrated and conscious, but not coherent. The AC in the house is turned off and it feels like an oven in there. We get her loaded in the ambulance and she is transported.
We secured the house and left, but it felt good to know we probably saved her life.
I'm going to call down to the postal station tomorrow and try to do something to recognize the postman. If it wasn't for his observation and caring, she would have probably died soon.
Oh, and her DL was found. She is 81.
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