It was during the wee hours Tuesday when teenagers Iesha Blakeslee and Billie Stone came across a woman lying in the grass along West River Road.
She was waving a shoe.
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The 86-year-old woman, whose name was not released, later told her rescuers that she waved to about 20 passing cars – none of which stopped to help – after she fell near the Waterville Junior High School softball field, which is around the corner from the Woodlands Senior Living Facility.
But Stone and Blakeslee did stop when they found her about 1 a.m., and the two teenage girls are now credited with the safe return of the woman to the Waterville elder care residence. The woman, who used a walker, fell while trying to journey some two miles from Woodlands to the home she lived in until about three weeks ago, police said.
Woodlands Senior Living officials would not comment on the incident.
Blakeslee and Stone had gone out to bring Stone’s mother her work ID badge at VA Maine Healthcare Systems-Togus, and were driving down West River Road when they spotted the woman.
“At first I thought it was a shadow,” said Blakeslee.
When the girls pulled over, they called 911 and Blakeslee put her jacket around the woman. Blakeslee also called the woman’s daughter to let her know she was OK.
The Waterville Senior High School students said the woman, who was wearing a nightgown, told them she was trying to wrap her blanket around her because she was cold when she lost hold of her walker and fell.
“She didn’t know exactly how long ago she had fallen but she said it had been a while,” Stone said.
Stone said the woman was cold and needed help standing up, but did not seem to be disoriented or confused about where she was and appeared to be unharmed.
The girls waited with her until the police and ambulance arrived.
The girls said they were glad to have helped the woman, who repeatedly thanked them for stopping.
“She called us her marvelous angels,” said Blakeslee.
Waterville Deputy Police Chief Charles Rumsey said the woman had moved about three weeks ago from the city’s South End to Woodlands Senior Living on West River Road.
“She decided she missed her home and wanted to walk back there, and set off from the residence and started walking back,” he said.
He said Delta Ambulance brought her back to Woodlands, where her family was waiting.
Kaitlin Schroeder can be contacted at 861-9252 or at kschroeder@centralmaine.com.
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