Helping Hands - A feel good story
More than just airport dentistry
At approximately 1:45
pm on Friday 11/20/2020 an
elderly female walked into
our office at JFK Airport
(Dr. Robert Trager, DDS) in
building 14 (Port Authority
of NY & NJ Building) and
started a conversation with
my office manager Bonnye
in a language Bonnye believed
to be Russian. The elderly
lady kept rambling on
and on so I came out of my
office to confront her. She
seemed to be lost and incoherent.
She spoke no English
but she kept rambling
on and on in Russian.
I saw that she had a
small notebook and she
was pointing her finger at
it. I noticed a few telephone
numbers with Florida area
codes 305 in her notebook
and instructed Bonnye
to call one of those numbers
AIRPORT V 16 OICE, DECEMBER 2020
to ascertain whether
they spoke Russian. As it
turned out the first number
Bonnye called and questioned
the gentleman that
answered if he spoke Russian.
He said yes and we explained
that there was an
elderly lady in our office
who doesn’t speak English:
however she has a small
notebook with several
numbers in it with Florida
area codes. One of the telephone
belonged to her son
Dimitri and we asked if he
would interpret for us. He
had moved from Florida to
Pennsylvania.
Dimitri said that his
mother was dropped off at
JFK Airport by his son(her
grandson) but he didn’t
know where his son had
dropped off the grandmother
and that his mother had
spent the night at the JFK
Airport but he was unaware
as to where in the airport
his mother spent the night.
As he spoke to his mother
she was incoherent and she
noted to her son Dimitri that
she hadn’t eaten since the
day before. She didn’t really
know where she was.
Her name is Natalya Kuchumova
and she is 75 years
old. She had spent 24 hours
somewhere at JFK Airport
according to Dimitri. Bonnye
gave Mrs. Kuchumova a
bottle of water, a toothbrush,
toothpaste and mouthwash,
and a towel to freshen herself
up before her flight. Bonnye
then took her next door
to the cafeteria and bought
her lunch and something to
drink.
It’s still a mystery as to
how she found Building 14
and my dental office. Upon
returning to my office we
called her son Dimitri to update
him as to what we had
done and to reassure him
that his mother was in good
hands.
At 3:00 pm we took her to
Terminal 1 for her 6:00 pm
flight to Moscow on Aeroflot
#103. We took a pic of her and
Dr. Trager before taking her
to the terminal for her flight.
We got to Terminal 1
and Bonnye went in to see
if someone could help Mrs.
Kuchumova and to explain
that she spoke no English
and needed to be checked
in for Aeroflot #103 and be
taken to her departure gate
for the 6:00 pm departure. A
few minutes went by and all
of sudden she bolted out of
my car without her luggage
which was on the backseat.
Dr. Trager was waiting
in the car with her until
I came out but she found
me at the ticket counter so
the Aeroflot agent checked
her in and I noticed that
she didn’t have her luggage
with her. I went to the car
to retrieve her luggage and
the airline agents helped
her from there.