CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Arlington Heights resident Andrea Schepp has kept an eye on her elderly neighbor for years.
So when she noticed the 89-year-old’s garbage wasn’t out for collection earlier this month, she knew something was wrong.
“I just had a very bad feeling,” she said. “Something wasn't right and the feeling just overwhelmed me.”
Schepp called 911 and asked for a welfare check.
Within minutes, police arrived and heard a faint voice calling for help.
“One of the officers came over and let me know that she had fallen and she couldn't get up,” said Schepp.
The woman had been stuck on her kitchen floor for almost 4 hours. She was taken to a nearby hospital and called Schepp a few days later.
“She sounded perfectly fine and she was so very grateful because she said ‘you saved my life because nobody would've come there’,” said Schepp. “She never had visitors, never.”
Unfortunately the 89-year-old passed away at the hospital several days later.
Related
But Schepp told WBBM Newsradio there’s a silver lining.
“She would've died days later on her kitchen floor in agony and alone, and instead, she was at Northwest Community getting excellent care and her family had been notified,” she said.
The village of Arlington Heights presented Schepp with the Good Neighbor Award Monday night.
“Ms. Schepp embodies the essence of Community by keeping a watchful eye on her neighborhood and she did not hesitate to call 911 when something did not seem right,” said the village of Arlington Heights in a statement. “ The action taken by Ms. Schepp exemplifies the definition of a Good Neighbor.”
Schepp, however, said the people to be thanked are those first responders.
“All I did was notice something and make a phone call. What was really impressive, I think, was the village’s response to that phone call. I was so impressed how seriously they took it and how quickly they acted,” she said.
Related
