New Philadelphia woman, 91, has utilities restored, to get needed services
NEW PHILADELPHIA ‒ Utilities have been restored for a 91-year-old woman whose written pleas for food drew a multi-agency response on Monday. Plans are being made to provide services that will allow her to stay in her home, according to a social worker.
Several people reached out to offer help to the resident after reading about her situation in The Times-Reporter, said Paula Lancaster, community care coordinator at the New Philadelphia Fire Department.
First story:A distressed 91-year-old New Philadelphia woman needed food. Here's how police responded.
Readers from as far away as Canton called and wrote to the newspaper offering to help the woman, who placed notes in her mailbox saying that she was hungry and needed food.
A mail carrier spotted the notes and set in motion a response to get the woman help. New Philadelphia police gave her food. Lancaster and Adult Protective Services of Tuscarawas County Job & Family Services got involved.
Officer Mark Sadolsky, who checked on the woman's welfare after being notified by the Postal Service, found that she seemed forgetful. She could not tell him the last time she ate. He said the home, located near downtown, had no water service or phone. There was a case of bottled water, but she could not remember who brought it to her.
At least one person volunteered to pay her water bill to get her service restored.
Lancaster said that is not necessary.
"She's covered her bills with her own resources," she wrote in an email. "We are working with the resident and family to get her services in the home."
New Philadelphia Fire Chief Jim Parrish said Lancaster has helped numerous elderly people since joining his department two years ago. She works part time at the fire department under the auspices of Bridges to Wellness, a program of Access Tuscarawas, a nonprofit whose mission is to connect people with social services.
Parrish said Lancaster helps people who fall through the cracks in the health care and public assistance systems ‒ people who don't need a fire truck, an ambulance or an emergency room, the only options the fire department offers.
"They just need help," he said.
Parrish said paramedics tell Lancaster if they respond to a home where they find someone in need of assistance. He said Lancaster has been able to get people seen by a doctor, placed in nursing homes and assisted living and enrolled in Medicaid and Medicare. She has helped families get housing and other necessities after fires.
"She has a ton of resources," such as churches and senior centers, he said. "She has a heart that is unbelievably huge and absolutely cares about people. She has affected so many lives, it's absolutely amazing. She just hits it out of the park every day."
Reach Nancy at 330-364-8402 or nancy.molnar@timesreporter.com.
On Twitter: @nmolnarTR
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Services being arranged to help distressed woman, 91, stay in home
