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Newspaper carrier called 'angel' after finding stranded elderly woman

EDMONDS, Wash. — A woman who was on her newspaper delivery route and found an injured elderly woman in a ditch is being called an "angel."

Shirley Morales bundles up her 2-year-old boy and takes off every morning, covering miles in South Snohomish County, delivering hundreds of copies of the Everett Herald.

Last month on her route, Morales took one wrong turn and found herself on an Edmonds street two hours earlier than usual.  She saw someone in the ditch, moaning.

"'Help me. Please help me,'" the person said.

Morales rolled down her window, yelling, "Are you OK?"

"And she said, 'No, I need some help. I think my leg's broken, and my arm,'" Morales said.

It was 5 a.m. and still dark, so Morales was worried about her own safety and that of her son, but after looking around, she realized the injured woman was all alone.

Morales quickly grabbed two big blankets she uses to bundle up her son and used them to keep the injured woman warm.

She called 911, and comforted the woman, in the rain, until help arrived.

"I ask her, 'Why did you leave,' and she was, like, lost. She (said), 'I don't know. I think around here,'" said Morales. "I just say, 'Don't worry, help is coming now.'"

The woman, Catherine Walsh, 84, lives across the street.

Last week, Morales talked with the woman's daughter, who called her "an angel" for stopping to help when others may have chosen not to.

Shirley Morales said the woman broke her ankle, a hip and her arm but is expected to recover.