Merced garbage collectors rescue elderly woman

The rumble of his garbage collection truck made it hard to hear, but Mike Schlessinger paused from his work to listen closely.

It was a faint cry: “Help me. Help me.”

The eight-year veteran of Merced’s city workforce was going through his collection rounds on Oct. 20 when he and his fellow collector, David Soto, heard the cries coming from the backyard of a home on W. 20th St.

“Normally I’m hustling, grabbing the cans and bringing them back,” he said. “For whatever reason, I took a pause and listened.”

Schlessinger and Soto peered over the fence and saw Rosa Godoy, lying on the ground near a running water house that had flooded her yard.

The 88-year-old woman had spent about 24 hours helpless on the ground, unable to raise herself after she lost her balance by trying to shoo away a cat. The orange and black cat sneaks into her yard to eat the food that Godoy leaves for Bella, her Chihuahua-mix companion, she said, and she was using the water hose to scare it away when she fell on the morning of Oct. 19.

A widow since 2003, the native of Costa Rica lives alone and sometimes uses a walker to get around. A neighbor who might normally be close enough to hear her was away, she said. She tried to pull herself and drag herself around the yard, but she was stuck.

“I struggled and struggled all day and night,” she told the Sun-Star on Tuesday. “The day continued and the whole night passed. ... It hurt a lot.”

She cried for help to no avail. She lied on the ground as temperatures dropped to below 50 degrees, and the gardening hose continued to soak her and the flowerbed. The retired bookstore cashier hadn’t planned to go anywhere that day, so she was only wearing slippers, short pants and a light shirt.

Finally, in the morning, she heard the garbage collectors nearby and she called out. “They heard me yelling and they called the ambulance.”

Schlessinger and Soto, who usually work independently, were “tag-teaming” the same neighborhood in separate trucks. Schlessinger, 33, got out of his truck to drag Godoy’s cans to the curb, a service they offer to elderly or disabled people.

Soto, 40, said he pulled his truck up behind Schlessinger’s and climbed down to help with the trash cans. After they saw Godoy, they stood on a garbage can to reach over the fence and used a stick to unfasten the latch so they could open the gate and help her out, Soto said.

When they got to her, she was wet, muddy and shivering.

Soto said they helped her up, but she had trouble standing. So, they got her away from the water and covered her up to try to keep her warm. They stayed with her until an ambulance arrived.

“We were just in the right place at the right time,” said Soto, a 16-year veteran of the job. “I just hope somebody would do it for my loved one.”

The men were honored with a certificate of recognition during a City Council meeting on Monday. A recount of the story earned them a standing ovation from the council and the audience.

“We didn’t really think it was that big a deal,” Schlessinger said. “We were just doing what anybody would do.”

Godoy was also at the meeting, where she hugged the men and thanked them. “I’m so thankful,” she told the Sun-Star. “I need to go thank the people at the hospital. They treated me very well. The nurses are very attentive. I’m very thankful.”

Godoy’s called Merced home for 15 years. Her three children live out of the area, in Belmont, San Mateo and Santa Monica.

“They want to take me with them, but I’m very independent,” she said. “My children have their own jobs and families. I don’t want to be a burden for anyone.”

As for the cat, which Godoy described as “nada bonito” – or “not cute at all,” she said she’s leaving it alone.

This story was originally published December 8, 2015 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Merced garbage collectors rescue elderly woman."