In times of emergencies, we’re told there is no time for mistakes to be made. Sometimes, however, a mistake is the best thing that could have possibly happened.
During a family emergency, one Florida woman thought she called the only people who could help. In reality, however, she mistakenly dialed the wrong number and called a sandwich shop. Thankfully, however, the strangers on the other end of the line rose to the occasion.
A Risky Surgery
In late October, Lisa Nagengast flew from her home in Florida to Omaha, Nebraska to visit her brother, Greg Holeman. Holeman, a 48-year-old Army veteran, needed to have a spinal fusion surgery. Nagengast flew out to be with him and make sure everything went alright since it was a risky surgery.
A Successful Surgery
“It was a risky surgery because he also has congestive heart failure,” Nagengast wrote in a post on Facebook. Despite the risks, Holeman needed the surgery and surgeons at Nebraska Medical operated on him. Just two days later, Holeman was discharged from the hospital and sent home.
Heading Home
“The entire surgery was taken care of under the VA and we had homecare workers setup to come to his house to help him with his recovery because my flight was leaving Saturday afternoon,” Nagengast explained. However, after a few days in Nebraska, Nagengast had to return home to Florida.
Landing In Tampa
“I took him home, made sure he was settled in and then I left. I thought everything was working out great and he was doing really well,” she explained. Nagengast had been relieved that her brother’s surgery had gone well considering how risky it was. Yet that relief disappeared by the time she landed in Tampa.
The Voicemail
Right after landing, Nagengast turned her phone on and discovered she had a voicemail from her brother. “He was in pain, there was a lot of blood and puss type fluid oozing from his incision. He said it was really bad and his left leg had gone numb. He was understandably upset.”
A Tight Budget
To make the situation worse, Holeman lived on disability and couldn’t afford to take a cab all the way to the hospital from his home. He didn’t want to call 911 as he couldn’t afford to pay for the ambulance and feared he would be forced to pay for it since he hadn’t gotten VA authorization.
Out of Options
According to Nagengast, Columbus, Nebraska doesn’t have Uber either. Holeman couldn’t think of any other option, which is why he called his sister. Nagengast assured him she would figure something out and called Holeman’s social worker to try and see what they could do.
The Phone Call
“So I called the number a young woman answered, I assumed it was the social worker Pam,” Nagengast said. “I told her who I was, why I was calling, gave her the whole story, and asked what can we do to get him to the hospital.” However, Nagengast wasn’t speaking to her brother’s social worker at all.
The Wrong Number
Instead, Nagengast had accidentally dialed the wrong number. Instead of calling Pam the social worker, she had called the wrong number and reached a Jimmy John’s restaurant in Columbus, Nebraska. The woman Nagengast thought was the social worker was actually Lupe Rodriguez, a Jimmy John’s employee.
The Manager Takes Over
Sensing there was a real emergency, Rodriguez told the woman on the other end of the phone that she was going to let her speak to her manager, Jason Voss. “She was a little panicky,” Voss told Omaha World-Herald. “At that point, I figured I should take a minute to think about it.”
A Serious Emergency
“It was obviously not someone making something up. It was an actual situation going on,” said Voss. “The whole time I pretty much knew that she didn’t know she was talking to someone from Jimmy John’s,” Voss told Fox59 about the unusual phone call.
An Unimportant Detail
Instead of telling the woman that she had called the wrong number and that they couldn’t help, Voss decided to help the woman. “It didn’t seem important to really bring it up, but I just wanted to make sure that she knew I was going to help her,” Voss said.
Discussing The Situation
Voss told Nagengast that they had drivers and told her he would call her back in 15 minutes to let her know what they could do. According to Voss, he would have driven the veteran to the hospital himself, but he couldn’t leave the restaurant. So he called Zach Hillmer, a Jimmy John’s delivery driver, explained the situation, and asked him if he was comfortable with helping out. “There was so much we didn’t know, what could happen, how it could fall to us,” Voss said.
A Confusing Call
When Hillmer, also a veteran, heard what happened, he was happy to help and called Nagengast back to get Holeman’s address and information. “At this point, I was confused because this was a social worker, they should already have his information,” Nagengast said. It was only then that she realized her mistake.
Realizing The Mistake
“I asked him if Pam had failed to give him the file or whatever had his information and he said ‘Umm, this is Jimmy Johns.’ I said ‘You mean Jimmy John’s like the food place?’,” Nagengast said. “I was kinda gracefully [trying to] back out of everything that had happened at that point,” Nagengast told CNN.
The Stranger’s Promise
“He was like, ‘No, no, no. I will take him to the hospital,’” Nagengast said about her phone conversation with Hillmer. “‘You give me his name and his address and make sure that he gets in the car with me, and I will get him where he needs to go.’”
An Emergency Room Delivery
Once he had the address, Hillmer went straight to Holeman’s house, helped him into the car, and drove him straight to the hospital. “Most places would have probably said something like ‘Gee I’m really sorry about your brother, but we can’t help you.’ But Zack, the delivery driver at Jimmy John’s picked up my brother and took him to the emergency room to get the medical attention he needed,” Nagengast said.
A Grateful Sister
“I cannot say thank you enough to Jason Voss and Zack Hillmer … there are not enough words to express my gratitude. Thanks to Voss and Hillmer, Holeman is now back home and healing well from his surgery,” she added. “In today’s political climate, everybody’s arguing with everybody, and we’re not actively listening to what anybody has to say. To have two complete strangers listen to me and then decide to do something to fix it — it was amazing.”
Humble Heroes
“I’m awfully proud of those guys,” said Sam Nixon, the owner and operator of Columbus’ Jimmy John’s, told Fox59. “What they did, I could not teach.” However, Voss and Hillmer just did what they thought was the right thing. “There is always time for people, especially people in need,” Voss said. “I had the resources, I had drivers, we weren’t super busy with deliveries, either. Zach was glad to help someone out.”
Another Random Act of Kindness
After word of the good deed spread, Jimmy John Liautaud, the founder of Jimmy John’s, flew to Columbus, Nebraska to surprise Hillmer with a new Ford Escape to thank him for what he did. “I couldn’t believe it. It was such a generous thing to do,” Hillmer said. “He did a random act of kindness, I did a random act of kindness, so that’s what it’s all about,” Liautaud told Omaha World-Herald. “This is about America and helping people out and helping your teammates out.”
