RC woman is stranded after fall on ice; encourages others to get medical alert devices

After Helen Warwick of Rogers City completes her recovery from a nasty fall on ice near her back door, she might consider becoming a spokesperson for a medical alert system. Because she lives alone, Warwick had thought about getting something to contact authorities if something happened to her, but after her ordeal in mid-December, when she fell on ice and was stranded outside for 20 minutes with a broken pelvis, hip and shoulder, she?s telling all her friends they need it.

?I?VE BEEN pushing it,? said Warwick, sitting in a wheelchair at Tendercare of Rogers City. ?I put it off too long because I had been thinking about it, and here I needed it.? It was more than two hours after her fall before she was able to phone for an ambulance. Warwick subsequently had surgery at Northern Michigan Hospital and hopes to return soon to her home on West Orchard.

While doctors say her recovery has gone remarkably well, considering her age (which she understandably didn?t want to give), Warwick would like to have been home by now. ?I?m impatient, and you want things to heal fast, and they just plain don?t. Each person handles things differently,? said Warwick Monday from her room.

THE DAY when Warwick was injured wasn?t as cold as the frigid temperatures the area has been experiencing the last three weeks, but it was cold nonetheless. The days were getting shorter and it was dark, about 4 p.m., when Helen took out the garbage as a part of her Tuesday routine. It had rained the day before, and the black ice on the sidewalk was not visible.

?All of a sudden, I was down on the cement,? said Warwick. ?And here I was, with my neighbors all around, but my voice wouldn?t carry that far.? Other neighbors, she knew, worked and weren?t home, so she didn?t bother yelling. Helen decided to get herself in and call for help on the telephone. ?I said if I don?t get in the house, I?m going to freeze to death ? that was the thought I had,? she said.

HELEN MADE the television program ?Survivor? look like a walk in the park compared to what she had to go through the next couple of hours. Dragging her limp arm behind her, she used her fingertips to pry open the back door, which was sticking out only a half an inch. At that point Helen had to find a way to crawl up the three steps into her kitchen.

?It was just like a dream, a bad dream, as I think about it,? said Warwick. ?I don?t know how I did it, but I worked up the first step. I had my coat on, all zipped up, because I had been outside. I worked up the second step and I had one more. ?I got myself up on the kitchen floor on my stomach, and with my coat zipped and my toes pushing, I could inch along a little bit at a time.?

But then another obstacle: the carpet in her dining room. Her coat wouldn?t slide as easily, and she needed to get to the phone on the other side of the room. ?Here I was on this carpeting, moving myself along,? said Warwick.

THE NEXT problem was the phone; she didn?t want to pull on the cord and break it, or pull the line from the wall. ?So I got over, close enough to grab the cord, and pulled it down and then I called the operator,? she said. Her son Paul Warwick attributes his mother getting through the tough situation on her thinking things out as she went along.

?She?s very determined,? said Paul, ?and always on top of things.? ?I think what kept me going was my adrenaline,? said Helen.

The black ice proved to be treacherous for police and Paul, who both slipped, but didn?t fall, when they arrived. Helen was miffed that her r

escuers cut into her winter coat to treat her injuries, but she was glad they were there. ?Do you now how much coats cost?? she asked.

PAUL SAID his mother to make exceptional progress in her recovery as she is now walking more than 80 feet. There had been concerns about her ever walking again. Helen said the nice part of her recovery period has been the stay at Tendercare. She said it has ?many good features.?

Warwick hopes her incident inspires others to consider a mobile medical alert system. She has already contacted some friends who have one, and looks forward to getting one herself ? just in case.

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

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