Elderly woman rescued by mail carrier

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- An 80-year-old woman was trapped for two days in her bathtub until the mail carrier noticed something was wrong.

“I’ve been on this route for like I said over 14 years, you get to know your customers and it was odd for her not to check her mail,” said Pierre Agena of the U.S. Postal Service.

Claudine Pate doesn’t believe she would be alive if it wasn’t for Agena. In order to get out of her bathtub at home, Pate needed to reach for a bar but didn’t have the strength.

“I was throwing the towel over the bar and doing a little bit of everything. I was talking to the bathtub too and I was telling it to make me an opening and things like that,” said Pate as she laughed.

Pate was incoherent and dehydrated when Agena knocked on her window.

“I asked her if everything was okay. She said, ‘yes.’ I wasn’t satisfied,” Agena said.

Agena called for help.

“I said, ‘well I’m in the bath tub,’” Pate added. “But I didn’t tell him that I couldn’t get out. I don’t know why I didn’t but I didn’t.”

On Monday, the Mid-Carolinas District of the U.S. Postal Service recognized Agena for his efforts. The ceremony took place at the Wilora Lake Healthcare Center where Pate is going through therapy.

“I thank God that I was there,” Agena said. “That He put me there at the right time so I could make a difference.”

Agena has been visiting Pate since when she was first taken to the hospital in late November.