Ingrid

It was his last stop of the day. Ingrid Braid was a middle-aged lady with autism. He couldn’t tell by the work order, but the case manager and he talked beforehand.

“She’s in 303. She’s hard of hearing and has a hard time walking so she might be slow coming to the door.” Beverly said. “Sometimes she talks German when she is upset so try not to make her mad”

Mark was mapping his route for the next day when he came up with the idea to stop at Ingrid’s apartment last so he could spend more time with the autistic woman. She came from Austria 50 years ago when she was a two-year-old toddler. No one knew how she got to the United States let alone Cincinnati.

Mark took the elevator and made his way to the third floor of the musty apartment complex that had a stench of bacon, body odor, and cigarettes. At 303, Mark heard a thud and then felt the door press against his hand. He was ready to enter the apartment. “Are you all right Ms. Braid?”

No Answer. 

“Are you all right?!” Mark shouted a little louder this time.

“Ich bin hingefallen” she answered

Mark tried pushing the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Ingrid Braid had fallen down right at the door and the door and she wasn’t moving.

“Mrs. Braid has fallen down at the door” Mark was on his cell phone now, calling the case manager. “She can’t get up and the door won’t open.”

“I’ll be right there” Beverly headed to the elevator as she was talking

Within 2 minutes 3 Cincy firemen arrived at Apartment 303.

“What happened?” one of the firemen said as he reached for the door handle.

“I knocked on the door and about a minute later I heard her hit the floor,” Mark said. “I asked her if she was all right, and she said something in German. Now I haven’t heard anything from her since then, that was about 15 minutes ago.”

“Can you hear me Miss Braid?” The fireman said. “This is the Hamilton county Fire Department, are you all right?”

Ich bin hingefallen”

The fireman jarred the door open, pushing Ingrid just a few inches. Once the door was opened far enough to look in, they saw Ingrid laying on her side struggling to get up.

Ich verletze “What did she say? The fireman asked.

“I don’t know” Mark said

The caseworker was there now listening intently.

“I think she’s saying, she can’t get up”

The firemen finally opened the door enough to get into the apartment and help Ingrid to her favorite chair.

Ironically enough Mark was there to install a first alert button. It was to help her in situations just like this. On TV it was shown many times when an older lady had fallen at the bottom of the stairs and couldn’t get up. The popular advertisement included the lady saying “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” into her pendant attachment around her neck.

The firemen left, after making sure Ingrid was OK. There was Mark with an autistic woman from Germany who didn’t have a clue as to why he was there. The caseworker Beverly stayed in the apartment with Mark. She felt like she could communicate better with Ingrid than Mark.

“She only trusts certain people “Beverly spoke up. 

Ingrid stared at the wall in her kitchen without saying a word as her autism took and then a sudden outburst “Vut you vant” she said in her best English.

“I have an emergency button for you” he showed it to her as he took it from the box. “Just push the button and you’ll be connected to someone who will ask you if you need help”

“Gehen Sie. Ich will es nicht.” she was back to speaking German and she seemed angry “she must be pissed” Mark thought out loud.

“Ingrid, this person is here to help,” Beverly said.

“Ich will ihn nicht hier haben”

“She says she doesn’t want you here” Having known Ingrid for a couple of years Beverly had picked up a little German.

“No Hilfe” Ingrid was trying to say she doesn’t want any help.

“Let this nice man help you, Ingrid” 

Ingrid’s stare was unbreakable. She nodded her head “no”

“Ingrid!”

A head nod, no.

Beverly turned to Mark. “Can we show her how this works?” she paused for a moment “I think she just doesn’t understand it”

Mark got out the speaker device from the box and plugged it into the wall, he turned it on and it made the familiar beep, beep, beep sound indicating it was ready. He phoned in the serial number and told the operator he was going to do the test.

“And this button will call the emergency number.” Mark pulled out the necklace pendant that came with the speaker and pushed the button.

After a couple of rings at the other end an operator came on the line

“Life Alert, can I help you?”

Mark explained he was doing a test for Ingrid Braid “I’ll have her call you back” he said as he approached Ingrid and the on the other end phone hung up.

Usually, he would ask the client if he could put the necklace around the neck but this time it was different. Beverly was sitting next to Ingrid. “Do you want to see if you can put this around her neck? Maybe we can get her to push the button.”

Beverly coaxed Ingrid with the button and then finally slipped the necklace and pendant over her head.

“Das gefällt mir nicht”

“Oh, Ingrid you’ll get used to it, you need this in case you fall down again” Beverly spoke calmingly. “Now push the button”

Ingrid wasn’t budging

“Just push the button Ingrid and then we can go eat”

Ingrid understood those words. She pushed the button.

On the other end of the line was heard“ Life Alert, Can I help you”

Mark was caught off guard and then to Ingrid “Just tell them we’re doing a test”

Ingrid stared at the phone and in perfect English said “We’re just doing a test”

Mark smiled. “She must have been starving”