Wrong Number Turns Right for Ailing Woman

A Massachusetts rug store worker who misdialed when trying to call a New Jersey wholesale company reached an elderly woman who told him she was having a heart attack.

But after several anxious minutes of trying to locate and help her, it turned out the woman was safe.

Sachin Baidya, who works for the Dover Rug Co. in Natick, thought he was calling a customer service representative he often deals with at Nourison Industries in Saddle Brook.

When he placed the call late Thursday morning, he entered the first three numbers of the store’s telephone number and then plugged in the rep’s extension as the last four numbers. But that connected him to an 82-year-old Rochelle Park woman with dementia. The woman felt nauseated and dizzy, and mistook the symptoms for a heart attack.

Thinking the sales rep was ill, Baidya told the woman he would seek help and call her back. He then dialed the main number of Nourison and told a receptionist that someone needed to check on the sales rep.

But after learning their colleague was fine, workers at the wholesale company dialed the number Baidya had called and reached the elderly woman. After learning where she lived, they contacted Rochelle Park authorities.

The woman was kept in the hospital overnight for observation but was released Friday.

“I happened to dial a number that turned out to be somebody who needed help,” Baidya told the newspaper. “I feel like I did a good thing.”

This article appeared in print on page 4 of the June 3rd, 2013 edition of Hamodia.