Alert news carrier helps rescue customer

by Ray Pauley and Karen Keefe
Grand Island Dispatch, December 30, 2005

An alert Grand Island paperboy is credited with actions that may have saved the life of an elderly customer who had fallen and was trapped in her home for a day-and-a-half.

Twelve-year-old Buffalo News carrier Joseph Rains was making his rounds Monday, when he noticed something was not right. The newspaper he had left on an 81-year-old Audrey Yehle’s doorstep Christmas morning had not yet been retrieved.

“She always gets her paper the day it’s delivered,” he said.

What happened next confirmed his suspicions.

“I heard really loud banging and screaming from the side door,” Rains said. “I went to the side door and saw a broomstick hitting the door.”

Got Help

“I went in the car and told my mom what happened, and then she hurried up and went home and called the sheriff,” Rains said.

Kathy Rains, who had been taking Joe on his route that day, described in her phone call to the sheriff’s deputy what her son had discovered.

At 9:04 a.m., the Grand Island Fire Company Rescue personnel received the call for a possible forced entry to free a trapped victim.

Soon, Joe Rains said, there were at least eight sheriff’s cars there.

Assistant Fire Chief Matt Osinski reported that Yehle was found wedged between a rear stairwell and the back door. She was still conscious and was able to unlock the door.

Assistant Chief Chris Soluri then squeezed between Yehle and the partially opened door so that paramedics could provide treatment for her weakness and dehydration.

Although there was no indication of life-threatening injuries, Yehle had reportedly fallen on Saturday, and if she had not been discovered when she was, there could have been tragic consequences, fire officials said.

‘Happy Ending’

Yehle was taken to Kenmore Mercy Hospital for follow-up medical attention and has since been released.

Joe, a Connor Middle School seventh-grader, was thanked by fire company officers for his quick-thinking, resolute actions, which contributed to a relatively “happy ending” to this Christmas holiday emergency.

What does Joe think about helping someone in trouble? “It made me feel really good and proud. Hopefully she feels better,” he said of Yehle.

The young man’s mother said she is feeling quite proud of what her son, Joe, did.

“At first, I thought he really didn’t do anything unusual. He’s always very alert,” she said.

“I’m always very proud of him.” But this time, “I was really blown away.”

Kathy Rains said she encourages her son to check up on elderly customers like Yehle. “We figured she had some health issues. We tried to be as aware as we could.”

She worried about what might have happened if Joe hadn’t stopped by Yehle’s house when he did, or hadn’t been as alert.

“I guess God was smiling on us,” she said. “He called on us to be at a certain place at a certain time.”