The voice on the other side of the door was very faint.
Water delivery man Marco Parea knew something was not right as he rapped on the entrance to 88-year-old Barbara White-Minischi's apartment. "I kept knocking and she did not answer," the Palomar Mountain Water employee told CBS affiliate KFMB-TV.
He usually announces his delivery by shouting, "This is Marco" and she shoots back "Polo!" But on one day earlier this week, Parea was alarmed when he got no reply to his appearance at the elderly woman's San Diego home.
White-Minischi had fallen and had been lying on her living room for an entire day when Parea showed up.
"I was flopping around there like a dead fish. I could not get up. I could not go anywhere. I couldn't open the door. I could not do a damn thing except lay there and hurt and scream," she said.
Parea decided to call 911 when he couldn't get a coherent answer from White-Minischi. "I said 'are you OK?' She said 'no, I think I fell down."
The woman spent 12 hours in the hospital. She didn't break any bones but is sore and now home recuperating.
Her granddaughter, Carrie White, praised Parea for helping. "We are really grateful," she said. "It's rare to find someone that genuine."
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