160-kg woman falls from bed; Disaster Management teams heave her back

Thane: The Thane Regional Disaster Management Centre and Fire Brigade responded to an unusual ’emergency call’ from the Vijay Annexe housing complex in Waghbil area, on Janmashtami day on Thursday.

Around 7 a.m., a panicky IT professional Prasad Vartak informed that his mother Chhaya Vartkak had “fallen off her bed” and he needed urgent assistance to help lift her back.

Taken aback by the strange request, but answering the call for duty, the teams rushed to the Vartak household on the sixth floor of the society, where the woman lives alone, with a nurse.

There, Chhaya Vartak, 62, a widow was seen lying on the floor, helpless, unable to move herself as her weight is over 160 kg, though she was in no apparent pain.

After some quick discussions, the rescuers decided to do a simple but swift operation – spread some thick bedsheets, rolled her onto it, and then heaved her back on the large bed – all within a matter of minutes!

Prasad Vartak was at a loss of words to thank the team from RDMC and TFB who promptly responded to his SOS and helped out the family.

Later, a family doctor examined her and said that she had not suffered any internal or external injuries and was fine.

“Since years, my mother suffers from multiple health issues, obesity, diabetes, bone problems, severe insomnia, breathing difficulty, back problems, mobility, etc. We live in the neighbouring building but have a full-time nurse to care for her, but even she cannot handle her alone,” a relieved Vartak told.

Since Chhaya Vartak cannot sleep even after consuming sleeping medication, she gets up and sits on the bed and after sometime starts dozing off, loses her balance and crashes on the floor.

Vartak said this is not the first time his mother had tumbled down and in the past 12 years, she had fallen at least 35-40 times, at times evening suffering some minor injuries, including damaged teeth.

“She had fallen last Monday also but I called a couple of security personnel and we all managed to put her back on the bed. Today was different with nobody around on account of the festival, so for the first time, we were compelled to take help from the authorities,” Vartak said.

After the ordeal, the happy mother-son duo are full of praise for the RDMC and TFB for their help and said that they proved to be ‘saviour angels’ when they rushed to her aid on Thursday.

Now, the Vartak family is planning to acquire a special bed with protecting railings on either side to ensure that Chhaya Vartak does not fall again, her son said.