Old Age

Have you ever had to call the non-emergency police line? Tonight I made use of that number to report a situation I encountered while out for an evening run.

I was near the end of my 3 mile run, waiting to cross the street when this car came down the hill- on the wrong side of the road. The car was not going fast, but was swerving in and out of their lane, eventually driving completely on the wrong side of the road. Another car came down the hill, passed the swerving car and stopped in the middle of his lane. The first car also stopped in the dead center of the road, behind car #2. A young guy got out of car #2, ran back to car #1 to see what was wrong with the driver and to figure out how to help. By now, Apache (the neighbor’s dog) and I went over to the car and found a confused elderly woman, Vicky, behind the wheel. Vicky said she was on her way home from her friend’s house but, because of the bright lights in the house, couldn’t see well. We asked her where she lived… over by Byerly’s, so the young man, Nate, offered to drive her home and I offered to follow them in order to give Nate a ride back to his car. (Yes, I do realize that probably wasn’t the smartest decision.) I ran Apache home, told my neighbors where I was going, grabbed my cell phone and drove back over to Nate and Vicky.

I followed the two of them on a windy path to Vicky’s house. It was obvious from the last minute and wrong turns that Vicky was confused about how to get to her house. I felt bad for Nate as he was getting directions from an 88 year old woman who was obviously disoriented and confused, wondered if we were ever going to find her house. After winding through neighborhoods, we finally made it to Vicky’s house.

While Vicky was getting out of her car, Nate and I asked her questions to get a better sense of her situation. She shared with us that she’s basically all alone, that her husband died 11 years ago and her son had also died several years ago. She was visiting her friend, who is also an 80-something year old widow. On the way to her house, I noticed that Vicky’s license tabs expired in September 2005 (!) and wondered if her license had been taken away from her at some point years ago. I commented on the expired tabs, to which Vicky replied, “Oh… don’t call the police on me.” Nate advised her not to drive as the police may give her a ticket for her expired tabs, I advised the same, but explained that not only could she get a ticket, her license could be taken away. Nate helped her into her house, which, from what I could see, seemed to be a mess. There were piles of junk in her garage, the light bulb in her entry way was burned out, there was more stuff piled inside her door. It seemed apparent that she’s been living there by herself for quite some time and probably isn’t able to take care of it herself.

As we left, Vicky thanked us and said she’d pray a rosary for each of us.

On the drive home, I learned that Nate works for a computer company, graduated from EPHS in ’98 and lives in St. Paul. When he asked what I do, I explained that I work in admissions, that it’s natural for me to ask a lot of questions and apologized if I came across as nosey. He was friendly and didn’t mind my questions.

When I got home, I explained the whole story to my neighbors, then to Sheila who encouraged me to call the police in order to prevent Vicky from hurting herself or others with her confusion and bad driving.

So I did. I reported the story to the person who answered the phone, gave him Vicky’s license plate number so they could follow up with her if necessary. An officer called me back to gather more information about the situation and from him I learned that Vicky hasn’t had a license for quite some time. He told me he was heading over to Vicky’s house tonight to check on her orientation and get information from her on tonight’s events, that someone from the county would also be following up with her during the day.

The whole thing made me sad. Vicky seems to have no one to look out for her well being, she’s lost a large part of her freedom and she’s about to lose even more considering the fact that she won’t be able to live alone for much longer without a license.

One positive piece- there are still trustworthy people and good samaritans out there. Had Nate continued driving to his friend’s place, Vicky may not have made it home tonight.