If it weren’t for the actions of a bus driver, a Vernon senior’s cries for help may have never been heard.
The senior citizen is a regular passenger on Vernon transit.
“She’s on the bus two, three, four times a day,” said Bev Andrus, transit driver for First Canada in Vernon.
So when the elderly woman hadn’t been seen on the bus for a couple of days, worry started to settle in among those who know her.
One of her friends approached Andrus about the situation Tuesday, saying the senior, who lives alone, opens her blinds everyday. But they weren’t open Monday or Tuesday.
“I picked up on that she was quite concerned,” said Andrus.
So on her lunch break Tuesday, Andrus decided to stop by the lady’s house to check on her.
It’s a good thing she did, explains John Peck, Vernon Regional Transit manager.
“When she knocked on the door and hollered for (her), she heard the distressing answer that she had fallen and couldn’t get up,” said Peck. “(She) was in her bathroom where she had fallen.”
Andrus suspects her faithful rider had been laying there possibly as long as a day or two, in a chilled 60 degree Fahrenheit (15 C) home.
Since the door was locked, emergency crews were called to gain access to the home and transport the injured senior to hospital.
“The actions of Beverly Andrus went above and beyond the call of duty, and according to the paramedics saved (her) life,” said Peck.
The woman’s son, who lives in Manitoba, is grateful Andrus came to the rescue of his mother, whose name is not being released for security reasons.
“She not only checked on her and found her, she actually arranged to have the window replaced,” said the son, of a door window that police had to break to gain access to the home.
“You don’t find too many people that travel the distance she did.”
The woman is still in hospital where doctors are undergoing tests to determine why she couldn’t get up.
Her son says, along with the early onset of dementia, she won’t be able to live on her own again.
While visiting her regular passenger in the hospital Wednesday, Andrus says the senior was quite grateful for the rescue.
“I sure didn’t think a bus driver was going to save my life,” she told Andrus.
In the 20 to 25 years Andrus has been a transit driver, she has never been faced with such a situation.
“I’ve helped people who have fallen on the sidewalk but never anything this dramatic.”
She credits the senior’s friend for her persistence and bringing her concerns forward to the driver.
“I probably wouldn’t have thought much of it. I’m thankful her friend was so concerned.”
