SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) – The Meals on Wheels program is not just about food, it’s also a way to check in on seniors.
A recent visit by the program in Sacramento, California may have potentially saved a life.
Patricia Escobar, a volunteer with Meals for Wheels, said she found a man trapped in his collapsed bed on her visit.
“I go inside, and right away, I got a bad feeling, and I ended up finding him on the ground and distressed and confused and called 911,” she said.
At the time, Escobar said she had no idea how long the man had been trapped. She later learned it had been for three days.
“I don’t know if it was him trying to get back up and then collapsed again,” she said.
Escobar was stopping by for her weekly delivery.
“And we love our participants, you know, that’s our main thing is to feed them, to socialize with them, to love on their animals,” she said.
In her one year of volunteering, Escobar said saving lives is not uncommon.
“I’ve been through it. So nothing surprises me anymore,” she said.
Meals on Wheels executive director Mindy Klick echoes Escobar’s experience.
“It’s not just been this one time that we’ve had this incident,” she said. “We see it unfortunately more than we should, but it happens quite often, and we’re just thankful that we have those volunteers that know exactly what to do.”
Klick said she is extremely proud of Escobar’s heroic actions.
“Had it not been for our drivers showing up knowing that this also was not normal for this participant, who knows what could have happened,” she said.
Volunteers with the nonprofit organization, like Cindy Halderspadt, have encouraged others to volunteer to help those who need support in their communities.
“Most of them live alone and they don’t get to talk to anybody, and it’s just nice to sit and chat with them for a few minutes and make sure that they’re doing OK,” she said.
Meals on Wheels serves more than 2 million senior citizens nationwide per year.
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