The U.S. Postal Service’s unofficial motto states, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of nights stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
Perhaps it’s time to update that to include more heroic acts.
Kayla Berridge, a sharp-eyed mail carrier in Newmarket, New Hampshire, ended up delivering more than correspondence to an elderly woman on her route.
In fact, Berridge was responsible for saving the life of an unnamed woman in her 80s who it turns out had been trapped for days under some items in her home that had fallen on her.
Berridge was alerted to the possibility something was wrong on Thursday, according to CNN, when she noticed the older woman had not picked up her mail for several days.
“I just had a gut feeling and wanted to make sure,” Berridge said, according to ABC affiliate WMUR-9 in Manchester.
“Most people put a hold in if they’re not there, so when people pick up their mail every day, you start to notice their habits.”
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Berridge’s decision to listen to her gut paid off. She called police to check on the woman’s welfare, and when officers went to the woman’s home, they could hear her crying for help. They found she had been trapped for at least three days.
Officers discovered the woman on the floor of her bedroom beneath some artwork and frames, among other things, as reported by CNN.
Police concluded the woman tried to grab her bed for support but ended up causing the items on the bed to fall on top of her.
Berridge’s concern for her mail customer and following up on her instincts was lauded by law enforcement.
“We just think it’s indicative of a small town and the mail carriers and the residents knowing each other and realizing something might not be right and reaching out to the proper authorities,” said Newmarket police Lt. Wayne Stevens, according to WMUR-9.
Throughout the country, mail carriers have been known to go above and beyond the call of duty, in ways that might seem small, but mean the world to their customers.
The Newmarket case is just a more noteworthy example.
On its Facebook page, the Newmarket Police Department called Berridge a “hero.”
“Once inside the residence officers discovered the elderly subject was trapped under items that had fallen on her inside the bedroom,” Stevens wrote in the Facebook posting.
“It was determined that she had been trapped on the floor for at least 3 days and possibly longer.”
The woman was taken to a hospital suffering from hypothermia and dehydration, Stevens wrote.
“It is this department’s belief that Kayla’s knowledge of the people on her route as well as her attentiveness saved the life of this resident,” he wrote.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.