Newspaper deliveryman saves elderly woman unconscious on porchway in -30C weather

Doctors said the woman was suffering from hypothermia

Ben Weston almost certainly saved the elderly woman's life (Star Tribune)

In this age of dazzling digital news, something as simple as a newspaper subscription might seem a little old fashioned.

But for one elderly woman in the Wyoming city of Casper, her decades-long loyalty to the local paper may have saved her life.

Ben Morris, a circulation manager at the Star-Tribune, spends most nights overseeing the delivery operation of the newspaper. But last Friday, one of his staff members had quit and so - determined that readers should get their newspapers - he decided he would fill in on the route.

Many thanks to Ben Morris, a Star-Tribune circulation district manager who sprang into action when he discovered a customer unconscious on her porch while delivering papers around 4:15 a.m.

Posted by Casper Star-Tribune on Monday, 11 January 2016

Reports suggest that for no reason in particular, Mr Morris decided to complete the route that freezing morning in the opposite direction. It meant that Edith Brekken’s home was his third stop on the route, rather than the 73rd.

The temperature that morning was around -30C. When Mr Morris arrived at the 77-year-old woman’s house at around 4.15am he could see a body lying face down on the porchway, dressed only in pajamas and barefoot.

According to a report in his own newspaper, Mr Morris ran to her held and checked for a pulse. He could sense nothing, so her took off his glasses and held them in front of her face; the faint condensation told him that she was still breathing, albeit shallowly.

He dialed 911 and, noticing that the woman’s door was ajar, stepped inside and collected some blankets with which to cover her. When the paramedics arrived they told him that the elderly woman was hypothermic. She was taken to hospital.

Doctors said the 77-year-old woman would have died had she lain there for another half an hour (Star Tribune)

“I would not have been there for another hour if I had not on a whim started the route backwards, just for the fun of it. I’ve been thinking about that all day,” said Mr Morris

He added: “She’s a longtime customer, but I’d never met her personally until this morning. I’m so thankful that she is a subscriber, or else she would have been there until daylight and who knows what.”

The Washington Post said that doctors told Mr Weston they believed Mrs Brekken had been out in the cold for at least two hours. They said she would have most likely perished had she lain there for another 30 minutes. The Star-Tribune posted news of Mr Weston's actions on its Facebook page, where almost 700 people posted messages about how he had saved Mrs Brekken's life. Mr Weston also went to see her in hospital, where she is recovering.

“Somebody was looking over her,” said her daughter, Erin Raabe.

“He was a good pick for a guardian angel, they picked the right guy.”