9 months ago
Tina Mederski's mail route in Bowmansville always involves checking in on the senior citizens along the way.
"A few of them, I have to take the mail inside or on the porch, whatever is convenient for them because they can't make it to the box," said Mederski.
But Mederski's visit was more than just a friendly gesture on Thursday when she showed up to 81-year-old Pearl Rosenthal's house.
"She said "Tina, Tina", I said, "yeah", she said, "can you help me,'" explained Mederski. "So I went in to her bedroom and she was lying in-between her bed and her dresser."
She had been there for five hours. Tina called 9-1-1 and Pearl was rushed to the emergency room.
"She couldn't call me," said Gloria Schenbeck, Pearl's daughter-in-law. "She couldn't get to a phone. She has lifeline, she couldn't reach it. So if hadn't been for Tina coming and delivering her mail like she does every day, she could have been there for God knows how long."
"It's all part of the job," Tina Mederski said.
But people along her mail route think Tina is just being modest.
"It's wonderful," said Darlene Wagner, a neighbor.
"Tina has a small route and it is very neighborhood oriented and it doesn't surprise me at all," said neighbor Jeff Wagner. "Good for Tina."
"It's fantastic, I'm glad she did it," said Jim Dyke, who lives down the road.
Tina says she really likes the people along her route, the people she catches up with everyday. But this day, she was more than a mail carrier; she was a friend who showed up at just the right time.
"She's one of the few mail carriers that goes out of her way to help individuals," said Schenbeck. "She keeps a close eye on her, so I thank you Tina."
Schenbeck says Pearl is in the Intensive Care Unit right now (as of Thursday night). She's having tests done to find out exactly what went wrong.
As for Tina Mederski, she used to be an Assistant Chief for the Bowmansville Fire Department. That experience and training certainly paid off during her mail route on Thursday.
