TAYLORSVILLE — A week after Halene Johnson dialed a wrong number after she'd fallen, the 80-year-old Taylorsville woman got the chance to thank the person who stayed on the line and made sure paramedics could help her.
“Can I give you a hug?” Johnson asked West Valley City police detective Dana Pugmire as they met in her apartment on Wednesday.
On Jan. 11, Johnson took a nasty fall by her bed. All alone in her apartment, hurt and helpless, she tried to call her son but dialed the wrong number. Lucky for her, Pugmire answered.
He stayed on the line until paramedics arrived and took her to the hospital.
“I was trying to get out of bed, and that’s the last thing I remember,” she said.
She said it’s a good thing she didn’t get in touch with her son after all. She said he would have helped her, but likely wouldn’t have known she needed to get to the hospital.
“I wasn’t thinking of going to the hospital. I was thinking of just getting off of the floor, and I didn’t know that I had pneumonia,” she said.
On Wednesday, she told Pugmire she considers him her savior.
“I feel like you saved my life,” she said. “Can I give you another hug?”
He replied, "of course."
She wonders why Pugmire stayed on the line that day.
“Wouldn’t it just be natural for you to say, ‘Well, you got the wrong number?'” she said.
“I guess I wanted to make sure you were OK,” Pugmire told her.
She’s happy she got the opportunity to tell him in person just how grateful she is.
“It’s a miracle. You’re my hero,” she told him.
“You can call me anytime,” he said with a laugh.
She might take him up on that. She says she now knows officer Pugmire’s phone number by heart, and she may just call him to say hi every once in a while.
Contributing: Viviane Vo-Duc