Technician follows instincts, saves a life

Nancy Johnson is grateful to technician Ira Clark for following his instincts and calling the police when he felt something was not right. Photo: Orkin

Pest Management Professional (PMP) magazine has long used the name “Mrs. Johnson” to illustrate a typical customer. We like to think that she, Mr. Smith and Mrs. Jones get together every so often to discuss how great their respective pest management service providers are.

But this story is about a real-life Mrs. Johnson, and how this elderly woman is with us today because of the quick thinking of Orkin technician Ira Clark.

Clark, who is based at Orkin’s Chattanooga, Tenn., branch, recently went on what he thought would be a regular service visit to the home of longtime customer Nancy Johnson.

He had confirmed her appointment time in advance, but when he arrived and knocked on the door, she didn’t answer. Right away, he felt like something wasn’t quite right.

“Her car was there, so I thought she hadn’t heard me knock,” Clark told Orkin’s public relations manager, Lia Conrad. “I went ahead and performed her outside service, but I kept thinking how weird it was that she didn’t answer. Mrs. Johnson seemed like the type who would let me know if she wasn’t going to be home.”

After he performed the outside service, he knocked again and didn’t get an answer. He went to her back door by the basement because sometimes she is there, but again, she didn’t answer.

“Ordinarily, I’d leave a ticket and call the customer to let them know I had visited, but I still felt like something just wasn’t right. I decided to call the police department to see if they could come for a wellness visit to check on her, just in case,” Clark told Conrad.

He left Johnson’s home to visit another customer. After that, his next service was close to Johnson’s home, and when he drove by, he saw the police cars at her house. Of course, he stopped to see what was going on. Mrs. Johnson had fallen several hours before, and she was being cared for by the officers, one of whom was fortunately a paramedic.

“It was just so wonderful that he thought to call the police over here, just so wonderful,” says Johnson, who has been an Orkin customer since 1956. “I’m just so, so grateful that he called. He’s certainly been great and nice.”

Johnson is currently doing physical therapy to help regain her strength. We wish her the best on her road to recovery, and salute Clark for following his intuition of something not being right at the account.