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Bus driver goes off route to help elderly woman

By Aaron Sharockman, Times staff writer
In print: Tuesday, November 25, 2008


Helene Day, 93, hugs PSTA bus driver April Eastman outside her daughter’s Pinellas Park home Monday afternoon. Thursday, Day, who suffers from dementia, wandered away from her daughter’s home. Eastman brought day back home.
Helene Day, 93, hugs PSTA bus driver April Eastman outside her daughter’s Pinellas Park home Monday afternoon. Thursday, Day, who suffers from dementia, wandered away from her daughter’s home. Eastman brought day back home.
[JAMES BORCHUCK | Times]
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PINELLAS PARK — Driver April Eastman had just stopped her PSTA bus behind the Shoppes at Park Place when an elderly woman approached with an odd request.

The woman asked if Eastman would take her to New York. To visit her parents.

"I knew right away that something was wrong," Eastman, 44, said.

The woman, 93-year-old Helene Day, suffers from dementia and had wandered from her Pinellas Park home.

As Day's daughter Elizabeth Bryce searched the neighborhood for her mother, Eastman tried to figure out where the woman belonged.

She radioed a supervisor and asked for the police. Eastman asked the woman if she could look in her purse. There, she found a note that identified Day and listed a phone number and address. Eastman called and left a message.

Then Eastman realized the address was only about three blocks away. She got permission to take the woman home.

"People were going around everywhere looking for her," Bryce said. "Then, someone said, 'What's a bus doing here?' "

Then Bryce saw Eastman walking with her mother. "I was so relieved."

Turns out, Day's parents have been dead for 30 years and never lived in New York.



[Last modified: Nov 25, 2008 06:15 PM]



Comments on this article
by Mom Nov 25, 2008 6:15 PM
YEA for all of us, that April is doing the Right Thing. Follow her example folks: STEP UP when the time is right.
by citizen Nov 25, 2008 4:52 PM
Thank You PSTA for allowing your driver to an Honorable thing! There are still some good people in this world willing to go out of their way to help another.
by Vinny Nov 25, 2008 3:35 PM
"So shines a good deed in a weary world." -Willy Wonka
by Cal Nov 25, 2008 3:35 PM
We need more random acts of kindness. Kudos to April!
by Chip Nov 25, 2008 3:34 PM
What a great story. April Eastman sounds like a quality person. Her actions of extending such kindness are an example for all of us. I hope April's future holds many blessings for her. Thank you, Aaron Sharockman. We need these kinds of stories.
by Bill Nov 25, 2008 3:34 PM
Way to go April. The community need more like you! Happy holidays!
by doris Nov 25, 2008 9:35 AM
April...would that everyone have your concern and compassion...you are a shining example of where our priorities should be..Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless
by Bobbie Nov 25, 2008 9:35 AM
That's what I'm talking about!Goog old fashioned humanity at its best. Gotta love it. That's what we should hear everyday....good deeds. God bless April!
by Anderson Nov 25, 2008 9:35 AM
Its a good thing the bus driver has a sense of urgency to get her home. I think there should be a watch like GPS system to attach to dementia adults to find them alot quicker.
by Linda Nov 25, 2008 9:35 AM
God bless both of them!!!
by JB Nov 25, 2008 9:35 AM
PSTA should give this bus driver an early Christmas present..I'd say 1K tax free for her positive publicity and outstanding humanity.
by Di Nov 25, 2008 9:34 AM
GOD BLESS THAT BUS DRIVER
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