HOLDEN, Maine — A pair of Bangor Daily News carriers discovered a 77-year-old Holden woman unconscious in a ditch across the street from her home early Wednesday morning.
It’s unclear how long the woman was there, partially submerged in rainwater and snowmelt, but police say she was unresponsive when the carriers pulled her from the ditch, called 911 and began waving down other motorists to help.
“She had been there some time, and her body temperature had lowered quite a bit,” Holden Police Chief Chris Greeley said late Wednesday morning.
The BDN is not releasing the name of the woman because police have not yet been able to notify family members. Eastern Maine Medical Center officials did not have information about her condition immediately available Wednesday afternoon.
“It appears she was going to get her mail and fell into the ditch,” Greeley said.
The mailbox is across the street from her home. Mud and ice may have hindered her efforts to climb out, Greeley added.
The two carriers, who declined to be named, were in a vehicle delivering newspapers along Levenseller Road when they noticed something unusual as they pulled up to the woman’s mailbox. They saw a light shining from what remained of a snowbank after a day of warm weather and heavy rain on Tuesday. It turned out to be a flashlight.
Then, the carriers spotted a shape in the ditch and found the woman. One carrier pulled the woman out of the ditch while the other called 911 and waved down passing motorists. Three people stopped to help, including a nurse who was on her way to work.
Neither Greeley nor the carriers knew the nurse’s name, and attempts to identify her were unsuccessful on Wednesday.
The passers-by gathered blankets from their vehicles, removed the woman’s wet clothes and wrapped her up in the blankets, rubbing her in an attempt to warm her up before the ambulance arrived.
The carriers finished their route before going home to change out of wet clothes.
Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter at @nmccrea213.