Do you remember the old Life Alert commercials of an elderly person falling and saying, “Help, help, I can’t get up!”?
While those commercials were a little silly, they did recognize a real problem that many older people face.
This was true for 94-year-old Alice Paschke when she fell in her remote rural home and couldn’t get back up.
For over 20 hours Alice was stuck on the ground, unable to get up, reach the phone, or move at all.
The woman thought she would pass away there unless someone came to her aid.
During the time Alice was stuck on the ground, mailman Josh Hefta was out on his usual delivery route.
Josh delivers mail to 162 houses in the small rural community of Walsh County, North Dakota.
While for most people he just leaves their mail in the mailbox, he had grown to know Alice and would usually deliver right to her door.
The woman’s mobility had decreased and her mailbox was down a gravel driveway so, especially in the winter months, Josh would trudge up the path to put the mail right in her hands.
One day in January, Josh knocked on Alice’s door and waited for her to open it with a smile and invite him in for rice crispy treats and a can of coke as she usually did.
She didn’t come though and so Josh knocked again.
Still, the woman never came and Josh, listening closely, thought he could hear strange noises coming from inside.
“I thought I could hear a faint somebody in the house.” the man said when asked why he did what he did.
He decided he needed to get into the house to check on Alice, no matter what that meant.
And so, bracing himself for the impact and full of adrenaline, Josh kicked the door right in.
Now he could definitely hear her, Alice was screaming that she needed help.
He rushed to the woman, lifted her off the floor, then called the ambulance to come and check her over.
When news spread of what Josh had done, local government officials took special notice.
They invited Josh into the main post office in his area and presented the man with the Postmaster General Award, something reserved for heroic acts that go above and beyond the call of duty.
His name will also be added to the Heroes Wall at the Postal Service Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Along with Josh’s superiors from the post office, Alice was also in attendance to watch the man receive his award.
“He saved my life,” Alice said after the ceremony, “and that’s a true story.”
Alice’s son, Chet, decided to move his mother into a nice retirement community after the incident.
Chet recalls with a chuckle that Josh profusely apologized for any damage he had done to Alice’s door when he kicked it in.
“That should be the last of your worries.” the man joked to his mother’s savior.
Since Alice has moved she is no longer on Josh’s delivery route, but hopefully, the pair will be able to keep in touch and can get together for some tasty treats and reminiscing.
Meet Alice and her savior Josh in the video below!
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Posted by ARK Media on Thursday, August 3, 2017
