WHEATLAND, CA (MPG) - Pearl Graham is a 93-year-old woman that is bound to a wheelchair. Wheatland residents lovingly refer to her as the Tulip lady. Recently it was discovered that Pearl had been abandoned and left to die by her Yuba County IHSS caregiver during a cold storm. 

A team of 3 realtors learned of the tulip lady’s situation after inquiring with Wheatland Fire Department, about the home on 4th Street that was missing a roof. The fire chief explained to Sharon Bradshaw that the woman was still inside the home and Yuba County APS had ignored numerous reports from local law enforcement and fire department. 

The 3 realtors; Sharon Bradshaw, Tami Holland-Davis, and Kelly Zimmerman created a plan to check in on the tulip lady and see if she would be open to help, in getting her to a warm, dry, and safe location. Tami Holland-Davis entered the home on Tuesday, December 14^th, and found Pearl (aka Tulip Lady) nearly frozen to death and trying to warm herself under a heap of damp blankets and wearing soaking wet socks. The 3 realtors jumped into action and removed her from the home, helped her get dry clothing and brought her to a hotel in Yuba City. 

After talking with Pearl it was brought to attention that she had reached out to her Yuba County IHSS caregiver the day that the roof was gone and asked her for help. The caregiver came and saw the missing roof that day and did not return. During the approximately 8+ days that Pearl was left uncared for she suffered extremely low temperatures and even talked about rain splashing on her face and hair while she tried to sleep. The contents of the home are water logged and there are puddles of water on the floors. It is a miracle that this elderly woman survived this horrible ordeal. 

For 48 hours the 3 Realtors left telephone messages and sent emails with photos to Yuba County APS and Health and Human Services and had no response. In fact, the response from these state-funded programs did not come until after Kelly Zimmerman took to her social media account asking for help, resources, and donations to help pay for the elderly woman’s hotel stay. 

Many people have come together to help care for Pearl. Wheatland is known to be a community that takes care of their own and to no surprise there has been an overwhelming support and also many demanding answers as to why this Yuba County IHSS caregiver and APS social worker have had zero consequences for allowing this woman to not only slip through the cracks of the system after numerous APS reports but how they could have left an elderly woman to face the elements of almost freezing temperatures, unsheltered from the rain, no heat, no warm meals and no care.