Mail Carrier Turns into a Guardian Angel for an Elderly Woman

A mail carrier is being hailed as a hero after saving the life of a woman on her route.

The Newmarket Police Department got an urgent call from the town’s postal office the day of the incident. One of its female mail carriers was requesting a wellness check on an elderly woman whose mail didn’t appear to have been checked recently.

Kayla Berridge has been working as a mail carrier for the United States Postal Service in Newmarket, NH, for four years. This made her already familiar with the town’s amiable residents and their everyday habits. Some of them would even take time to chat with her, including the octogenarian woman who was now failing to collect her mail.

“I hadn’t seen her in a while, and I noticed her mail wasn’t getting picked up, so I got a little concerned,” Berridge told CNN.

The police department immediately responded to the call.

Upon knocking, the investigator who was the first to arrive at the house heard faint cries for help. Another officer soon arrived, and they hurried to gain entry.

They found the old woman in her bedroom, pinned down by various objects such as frames and artworks. It appeared that the elderly woman had gripped her bed for support, but instead, all the stuff on it toppled on her as she fell.

She was quickly taken to the hospital, where she was treated for dehydration and hypothermia. She must have endured hunger, cold, and thirst for three days or so.

Kayla was very relieved upon hearing that the elderly woman had been rescued in time. She has come to love the town of Newmarket, where everyone supports one another. It’s why instinctively she would look out for each of them, for any sign that somebody in her beloved community might be needing help.

Hypothermia is a dangerous condition, along with frostbite. It usually occurs when a person suffers prolonged exposure to very low temperatures. But even at warmer temperatures, hypothermia can happen. Once the body’s stored energy gets used up, the brain becomes fuzzy and the victim may lose connection with reality.

According to the National Institutes of Health, older adults are more vulnerable to hypothermia. This is due to the effects of aging, underlying medical conditions, or certain drugs.

Had the elderly woman spent more hours on her bedroom floor, alone and without any sustenance, her energy would have been completely depleted, leading to death.

You can watch this heroic story here.

The Newmarket Police Department was all praise for Kayla. “Without a doubt, she saved this lady’s life,” Lt. Wayne Stevens told CNN. “That’s part of being a letter carrier in a small town and taking your job to the next level. She did a great job.”

Of course, the whole town is proud and joyful. Kayla is their new local heroine in mail-carrier uniform. Nice work, Kayla!

Written by Doris De Luna