Wednesday ‘Wendy’ Johnson, a 51-year-old woman, passed away at Cape Fear Valley Hospital in June, reports WRAL News. According to her family, her death was a result of heat-related issues. Wendy, who resided in Sanford, had been working for the U.S. Postal Service for over two decades.
Her son, Deandre Johnson said Wendy was riding in the back of a postal truck on a very hot day, with temperatures reaching 95 degrees. Wendy was a supervisor and occasionally assisted with deliveries. On the day of her passing, she began experiencing complications during her shift. Postal workers later discovered Wendy unconscious in the bathroom of a post office in Fayetteville on Raeford Road.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is currently investigating her death as heat-related. The vehicles used by the postal service do not have air conditioning, leading some postal workers to refer to them as
“easy bake ovens.”
According to Johnson’s son, his mother would send text messages to family members expressing her concerns about the extreme heat inside the trucks.
“She texted my aunt and said ‘yeah, I’m in the back of this truck and I’m hot,’”
Deandre Johnson said.
“Being in her situation, I don’t think she should have been in a truck in 95-degree weather, and in the back of that truck it was like 102.”
“As soon as she got back from getting off the truck, she went to the bathroom,”
said daughter Sa’ni Johnson.
“And then when somebody came to the bathroom, they just found her 15 minutes later like … unresponsive.”
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
