CINCINNATI —

Hospitals jammed with the highest number of COVID-19 patients on record are beginning to get some relief as the Ohio National Guard arrives and reinforcements of a different kind step up to the task.

The National Guard sent 70 troops to UC Hospital to help out in several clinical and non-clinical roles. They add to the 20 already there to help with the testing efforts.

The troops are needed because of the high number of COVID-19 patients and the high number of staff out because of COVID-related issues.

There are also other efforts to reinforce hospital health care workers.

"Our teams are doing a great job, but our teams are tired. It’s been a tough couple of years," said vice president and chief nursing officer for the Good Samaritan region at TriHealth.

TriHealth has a program called Helping Hands that puts more nursing staff in the hospital.

"We've reached out to these other areas which could be our physician practices or anyone that's not working at the bedside that can come in and help," Macy said. "We can use these resources anywhere because it's going to help in all of our units."

So far, about 100 nurses have stepped up to help out.

St. Elizabeth has a similar program that recruits nurses from outside the hospital to help relieve the pressure of the staffing situation.

"If there are opportunities for folks who do not have front-line patient care jobs, if there are opportunities for them to volunteer and help, we're asking them to do that at this point," said St. Elizabeth COVID Dr. Jim Horn.

The wind chill was 5 degrees below zero when Linda Houlton fell trying to get her mail, and for the next 19 minutes, she struggled to get back on her feet and out of the cold.Though the home sits along her busy street in Des Moines, Iowa, no one stopped to help until Chris Meyer pulled up in a mail truck. It was not his normal route. "We had a carrier that was gone that day, so I had a part of his route that I don't normally do," Meyer said.It turned out to be a serendipitous assignment. Security video from the home shows he lifted Houlton off the ground, carried her to the house and, on brand, retrieved the mail she had dropped in the fall. "If it was my mother or my grandma, I'd want someone to help her out, and there was no one there to help her," Meyer said. Houlton said she didn't know exactly how long she had been struggling alone until Meyer gave her the time. A timestamp on the security camera confirmed it was 19 minutes. "It got to a point, I couldn't cry," she said. "It was so cold that he stopped and picked me up, even to get me on my feet. And I was still wobbly from being cold."Despite the fall and time spent in the cold, Houlton has no lingering injuries. "I'm not going to go out and check mail in the wintertime anymore," she said with a chuckle. The family turns serious when recognizing Meyer's action. Wen Boatwright, Houlton's son-in-law, found out what happened by watching the security video. "Tears in the eyes. It was relief," he said. "A good Samaritan stopped and helped my mom. Saved her life. We need more people like him out there."The family hopes Meyer will get some kind of national recognition for the rescue. But until such a time, they're letting him know how they feel. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," Houlton said. "You're a very good Samaritan."

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY, Calif. —

A Modesto, California, family once victimized by a suspected scammer is now the recipient of good fortune, thanks to a generous good Samaritan.

The two families met on a San Joaquin County ranch on Thursday.

As Dave Pechan and Angelica Cuevas stood face-to-face for the first time, the rancher handed Cuevas a cash gift.

Cuevas' son, who translated for her, said to the rancher in English that his mom is grateful as the money will help pay for rent and utilities.

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Pechan first learned of the Cuevas family on Sept. 24 when sister station KCRA shared her story of how a suspected scammer promised them an affordable home to rent, only to run off with their hard-earned money.

"I was very upset because basically, that was hard work money that we saved up for," Angelica Cuevas said in Spanish.

"It was just painful to watch," Pechan said.

Pechan said what he and his wife were most heartened by was the family's work ethic.

"I consider work ethic so valuable to, not only to the people to earn money, but our whole country," Pechan said.

Pechan not only replaced what the family lost in dollars but also their faith in humanity.

"I'm grateful that there are still people with good hearts," Cuevas said.

A police detective said five more people have come forward as victims recently. That number adds to the original four from Turlock.

Investigators believe more victims are out there.

WALKER, Mich. — The owners of a Michigan butcher shop lost a whole day's deposit money. But just as they were giving up hope, their luck turned around.

Tim and Teresa Sobie of Sobie Meats accidentally dropped their bank pouch on the ground.

You would have needed an eagle eye to spot the pouch, and that's exactly what one driver had when he reversed to the money on the ground.

"Somebody came back through and backed up and they, they took the deposit," said Tim. "And at that point, we're like, 'Wow, all day has gone by.’ And they never called because we had a deposit slip in there with our name obviously, and even our phone number is on there. And nobody called to say, 'Hey, we found your deposit,' etcetera, etcetera."

When the money wasn't returned within several hours, the couple called the cops. But before officers got to the shop, the good Samaritan arrived.

"Our good Samaritan came in and he said, 'Hey, I found this.' And he said, 'I drove around front, and you were closed.' He said, ‘You know, I started at 8 o’clock in the morning, I just got out of work.’ So, he brought it to us,” said Tim.

Tim wouldn't go so far as to say how much money the pouch had.

"So, it was enough that it was—it would have hurt, not having that deposit to go to the bank, like anybody else," he said. "If you took one of your days of pay away, it would hurt, right? So yeah, that would have stung. So, we're just so grateful that he turned that back in."

But instead of a loss, there was a sense of relief knowing a good Samaritan was looking out for them.

"We were just elated that somebody, you know, after that long, turned it back, and he said everything is there," Tim said. "You know, I didn't take anything out of there. So he had never been in the shop before his first time in, and he was doing an act of kindness like that. So, that was pretty, pretty phenomenal."

Tim says the man who gave back the money got a free gift card as a thank you and says they'll get him hooked up with a nice cut of meat.

This story was originally published by Angeline McCall at WXMI.

A man who jumped off a bridge to save a little girl after a crash in Ocean City, Maryland, on Sunday has been reluctant to receive praise.Jonathan Bauer revealed himself on Friday on the condition that first responders would also be recognized for their work.An 18-month-old girl was ejected from a pickup truck into the bay below after a five-vehicle crash on the Maryland Route 90 bridge, WJLA-TV reported. Once he saw what had happened, Bauer didn't hesitate to jump off the bridge — at least a 25-foot drop into the water."When I looked over, I saw the car seat and some other items, and about 6 feet away from the car seat was a little girl. She was on her back, completely floating, head completely out of the water, arms moving, legs kicking, and a little pink dress," Bauer said.A family in their boat went over and rescued both Bauer and the baby just moments later.Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan and first responders presented Bauer with a plaque.The little girl has been released from a Baltimore hospital and is expected to be OK, according to reports.Hearst TV contributed to this report.