Bus Driver Comes To Aid Of NJ Senior Stranded In Home
LODI, N.J. (1010 WINS) -- An elderly New Jersey woman is recovering in the hospital after being stranded on the floor of her Lodi home for four days.
91-year-old Isabelle Ballantine was found in her Pasadena Avenue home last Tuesday when a local senior bus driver -- Reina "Renee" Alcalde -- called 911 after not seeing the woman waiting in the window for her weekly senior group meeting, 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon reports.
Alcalde also spoke to a mailman who said the mail had been piling up at the woman's home for days.
"I told him I don't know what happened, but something is wrong. I knocked the door, nobody answered...well, I called police," Alcalde said.
First responders broke down the front door and found Ballantine dehydrated and in bad shape, Rincon reports. Responders also found the elderly woman's phone off the hook -- which she apparently tried to reach while on the floor.
On Friday, Ballantine reunited with Alcalde at Hackensack University Medical Center and called the bus driver her "angel."
Alcalde said she was glad she trusted her instincts and was able to help.
