Brandon Sun carrier a lifesaver

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This article was published 25/04/2020 (2087 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A subscription to the Brandon Sun helped save an 88-year-old man’s life on Friday.

Rick Randall, a Sun paper carrier for 33 years, was delivering newspapers on his normal route when he arrived at a residence on 22nd Street that still had both Wednesday’s and Thursday’s Sun in the mailbox. Randall noticed mail was starting to pile up, too.

“Put it in the mailbox and he’s got it out right away, he never misses,” Randall said Friday afternoon. “There was just that feeling, that this isn’t right. We’d always seen him, not a man of many words (normally) just a hello and a wave.”

Randall talked to some neighbours to see if they’ve seen the man who lived there. Randall learned no one had seen him for a couple of days.

“They said they talked to him last week and everything was fine and didn’t need anything,” Randall said.

Randall called the Brandon Police Service to do a wellness check on the man’s residence. A wellness check is when police stop by a person’s home to make sure they are OK.

Upon arrival, police discovered the man on the floor, unable to move for the last two days. They took him to the hospital and Randall received a call that the man was doing fine.

“I felt pretty good this morning — I got a little choked up,” he said.

This isn’t the first time Randall has helped out someone in need. When delivering papers at Hobbs Manor on 15th Street, he helped a man who had tripped on the stairs get back to his room. In another instance, he noticed mail starting to pile up and called maintenance, who entered the room to find a man who was unable to get up and they called an ambulance.

At Village Green, a woman had fallen overnight and when Randall arrived in the morning, he heard her call for help, which he did right away. Randall has become a constant face for many people on his route.

“You get to know everybody and they get to know you and I’ve always kind of kept my eye out for things,” he said.

His route takes him an hour and a half normally, sometimes two if some people want to stop and chat. Randall is always happy to oblige.

“I think they just come first,” he said.

Randall has become such a face in the community that people question when he’s not delivering their paper. Randall’s daughter, Kalleigh, has been helping her dad out as she is currently out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’ll be delivering to a house that he usually does, and they come out and say ‘Oh, where’s Rick? We want Rick,’” she said with a smile.

Randall told of another time his family was helping him out on a Saturday when he went home sick, and a woman along his route was wondering if he was OK. The following Monday, when Randall returned, the woman was anxiously waiting at her front door to make sure he was all right.

Amidst the current pandemic, with people shacked up in their houses, Randall is the only social interaction many people get. He is still happy to chat with people, just now he’s at the bottom of the steps when they’re at the door. He said some people are more appreciative of getting their paper than they were before.

“We get a few thank yous,” Randall said.

Getting out in the community and chatting with people is what Randall loves most about his job, and that’s what has kept him doing it for so long.

» rstelter@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @steltsy94