City Carrier Assistant Ernest Thayer Jr. was delivering mail on a spring day last year in downtown Mount Dora, FL, when two women who’d been shopping together across the street experienced a crisis.
Thayer heard one of them yelling for help, so he rushed to their aid, where he found that the other had fainted and was barely breathing.
Suspecting heat-related illness, the Postal Service employee — a former Army medic — carried the unconscious woman to a shaded area and asked her friend to call 911.
Thayer elevated the sick woman’s legs, applied a wet compress to her head and neck, and monitored her improving pulse and respiration until paramedics arrived and took over.
“His quick actions and appropriate response prevented any further heat injury and may have saved her life,” said Mount Dora Postmaster Lynn Blanton.