An elderly man in the US has been given a helping hand by a 911 operator.
Clarence Blackmon, 81, had just been released from hospital after undergoing cancer treatments and rehab. When he returned to his home in Fayetteville, Arkansas, his fridge was empty and he was hungry.
Wheelchair-bound, Blackmon was unable to go to the store, and had no relatives to assist him, so he did the only thing he could do – he called 911.
The 911 operator answered, but this was not a normal emergency. All Blackmon wanted was for someone to go to the store for him to buy him groceries.
“Whatever you can do to help,” said Blackmon, “I can’t do anything. I can’t go anywhere. I can’t get out of my chair.”
The operator who took the call, Marilyn Hinson, leapt straight to action.
“He was hungry,” Hinson said, “I’ve been hungry. A lot of people can’t say that, but I can, and I can’t stand for anyone to be hungry.”
Blackmon’s grocery list was sparse: a head of cabbage, beans, beets, corn, tomato juice and some soft drinks.
It was a request that Hinson was determined to fill. She went immediately to the store, and with the help of police officers in the area, made a huge grocery delivery to Mr Blackmon.
But she didn’t stop there, the operator also took the time to make Blackmon a ham sandwich (“a feast,” according to Blackmon) and made a number of sandwiches to eat later.
“It was like a little miracle ringing in my ear,” Blackmon said, “I thought, ‘Jesus, you answered those prayers!'”
Blackmon has now been allocated a home nurse to take care of him.
