A brief, possibly non-health-related digression.
I have had the same N&R phone number, 373-7088, for 20 years, give or take a couple of months. It has led to some adventures.
The person who held the number before me was Stan Swofford, and for at least 10 years after I inherited the digits, I also inherited calls from some of his sources, sometimes late at night. (Most of them, upon finding out the mistake, either didn't return my callbacks or else found some other way to get in touch with Stan. Face it, we staffers aren't that hard to find.)
Also, for several years before we switched from the 910 to the 336 area code, I frequently got calls intended for the Cape Fear Valley Regional Medical Center, one of whose phone numbers was identifical to mine except for being in the 343- exchange instead of 373.
(Thank goodness I never had the number 867-5309.)
But over the weekend I got the strangest call yet. A distraught-sounding woman called and left a voicemail message saying, "I need a service y'all provide -- quickly." She left two numbers. I somehow sensed that she wasn't talking about a new subscription. Puzzled, I called back and left messages at both numbers, then tried to figure out what that was all about.
Since I've taken over this beat, when I've written stories about a doctor or clinic or experiment, I've occasionally gotten calls from people mistaking the number in my article tagline for the number to call to reach the subject of the story. I thought perhaps this might be the case, but I couldn't think of anyone or anything I'd written about recently that might have engendered that kind of emotional response (except maybe this).
Then, on a hunch, I looked up the phone number for this place. And its number is kind of like mine. Sort of. If you turn your head just the right way and sqint. Or maybe if you're incredibly upset and on the verge of tears.
Whoever she is, I hope she gets the help she needs.
