Each day our community grows stronger because of caring people like Deborah Perry who continue to do the right thing to meet the needs of others, regardless of the news and rules about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Deborah Perry has been with the Senior Companion Program for 3 years. She lives and volunteers at North Birmingham Towers and has been serving her client, since May of 2019. Deborah assists her client, who is blind, with daily living skills such as cooking, maintaining his apartment and accompanying him to his doctor appointments. Most importantly, her caring friendship recently saved his life.
On July 15, 2020, around 1:30 p.m. Deborah contacted her client as she usually does on a regular basis since the start of COVID 19. Her client had a doctor’s appointment, which was two blocks from his home and he often made the trip with Deborah, so he was familiar with his route. Due to COVID restrictions and the Senior Companion Program being suspended, she was unable to accompany him to his appointment.
When her client answered his cell phone, he explained that he had gotten turned around and was now lost and unable to navigate his way back home. Deborah acted quickly, notifying the building manager and service coordinator. All three went to search for her client throughout the neighborhood in their cars, following the information her client was able to provide over the phone. After a brief search, they all agreed that they needed to contact the police and the client’s family.
While on the phone with the 911 dispatcher, Deborah and her station supervisor tried to help her client call 911 so they could ping his phone and locate him. She even went to the precinct with the service coordinator when the client was unable to make the call due to his eyesight. Together, they walked him through the process, enabling the GPS system in his phone.
The police brought in their K-9 partner as the sun was going down. At 7:45 p.m. they finally located him in the Collegeville community, a quarter of a mile from his home off the main road where no one would normally look. The client was tired and had lain down in some tall bushes behind a fence. With great relief and tears Deborah was reunited with her client.
Deborah Perry is an avid reader and her favorite book is “On the Corner of Hope and Main by Beverly Jenkins. She is a member of All Nations Church where she serves on the Intercessory Prayer Team. When asked what her favorite scripture, she quoted Romans 15:4, which say ‘For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” Deborah is the proud mother of 2 children, 5 grandchildren and 1 great-grand child.
Congratulations to Ms. Deborah Perry for being our Family Album Spotlight Volunteer and a true servant.