Letter Carrier Shonda Lemon was recently making deliveries in a Chicago neighborhood when she grew concerned about an 89-year-old customer, Helen Iwanski, whose mail was piling up.
Lemon contacted police and asked them to check on Iwanski, who was found in dire need of medical attention after falling several days earlier.
The customer was rushed to a hospital.
When police called Lemon to tell her Iwanski was alive, “I was just so overwhelmed, I cried,” she later told CNN, one many U.S. and international media outlets that covered the story.
The woman’s family was grateful for the Postal Service employee’s attentiveness.
“She really does look out for people and cares about them,” a niece said.
Lemon, who fondly recalled mutual friendly gestures such as wrapping rubber bands around Iwanski’s mail so the customer could easily grip it, and finding pieces of candy attached to outgoing mail for the carrier to pick up, said she was eager to greet Iwanski upon her discharge from a physical rehabilitation facility.
“Each person has an intricate part of your life,” Lemon said, “and you never know how important they’ll be.”
The letter carrier also received a plaque and certificate from the Chicago Police Department in appreciation for her lifesaving actions.