By Amanda Thomason April 14, 2022 at 1:47pm
Macario Chism of Missouri spends most of his days as a sanitation worker with Waste Pro USA, taking care of people’s trash. But on one day in January, that very job led him to become a hero.
On that day, 82-year-old Thelma Bates had gone missing at 3 a.m., triggering a Silver Alert. The woman suffers from dementia, and her family was terrified for her safety.
It also happened that it was only 16 degrees the morning she disappeared, and she hadn’t been wearing any shoes.
“Oh I was very worried sick,” Thelma’s oldest daughter, Marian Bates, told KAIT-TV. “The whole community came together.”
“One of the city guys who’s a volunteer fireman called me early that morning after the Silver Alert had been issued,” Caruthersville code enforcement officer Barry Gilmore said told the station.
“None of us really thought that this would end the way it did.”
Aware of the Silver Alert and knowing that he would be working in Caruthersville, where Thelma was reported missing, Macario was determined to find her.
“Yes he told me several times, he said, ‘I felt in me that I had to find this lady,’” Chris Booker, also with Waste Pro USA, said.
“I gotta find that lady, because she either froze or she might be dead,” Chism told himself, according to WREG-TV.
At around 6:30 or 7:00 a.m., as he was near a property with a small backyard shop building, he noticed something off.
“I noticed the shop door had swung open from the wind, and it had closed, and then that’s when I noticed her on the ground in the shop,” Chism said. “And she raised up and then she fell back.”
He ran to her and picked her up, then placed her in the cab of his truck and covered her bare feet, honking the horn to get someone’s attention. Eventually she was taken to a hospital, and although many were worried she would succumb to her time in the elements, she pulled through with just a few minor injuries.
The rescue meant a lot to Chism, who was reminded of his own grandmother
“My grandmother died in my arms,” he told KAIT. “Like… I couldn’t save her so I was just happy to save Mrs. Bates.”
“He was taking his time, he was paying attention, and he found her and he saved her life,” Gilmore said. “And again, I couldn’t be prouder of the guy.”
Thelma’s family are incredibly grateful to Chism and consider him family after his heroics.
“If it weren’t for Cario, probably today we would probably be putting some flowers on my mother grave today… if it weren’t for Cario,” Renee Bates, another family member, said.
Chism was also recognized by KAIT, which presented him with March’s Gr8 Acts of Kindness award, reminding him again just how much his actions were appreciated.
Amanda holds an MA in Rhetoric and TESOL from Cal Poly Pomona. After teaching composition and logic for several years, she’s strayed into writing full-time and especially enjoys animal-related topics.
As of January 2019, Amanda has written over 1,000 stories for The Western Journal but doesn’t really know how. Graduating from California State Polytechnic University with a MA in Rhetoric/Composition and TESOL, she wrote her thesis about metacognitive development and the skill transfer between reading and writing in freshman students.
She has a slew of interests that keep her busy, including trying out new recipes, enjoying nature, discussing ridiculous topics, reading, drawing, people watching, developing curriculum, and writing bios. Sometimes she has red hair, sometimes she has brown hair, sometimes she’s had teal hair.
With a book on productive communication strategies in the works, Amanda is also writing and illustrating some children’s books with her husband, Edward.
Location
Austin, Texas
Languages Spoken
English und ein bißchen Deutsch
Topics of Expertise
Faith, Animals, Cooking