Mail carrier in Medina receives Postmaster General Hero Award

By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 26 February 2020 at 5:53 pm

Photos by Ginny Kropf: Lisa Moule, left, a 14-year employee of the Medina Post Office, was presented with the Postmaster General Hero Award this morning, for realizing one of her customers was having a medical emergency. Moule called an ambulance and waited until they arrived, quite possibly saving the woman’s life. With Moule are Gary Vaccarella, acting district manager; Scott Streebel, Medina postmaster; and Medina operations manager, Eugene Oyer Jr.

MEDINA – Lisa Moule is the first one to tell you she’s not a hero.

But that’s not what her superiors and fellow co-workers at Medina Post Office think.

Moule this morning was presented with the Postmaster General Hero Award by acting district manager Gary Vaccarella, for possibly saving the life of a customer on her delivery route.

“This was the first time I’ve encountered a situation like this, and it was scary,” Moule said.

A 14-year employee of the Postal Service, Moule started a recent day like any other, except that she had an express piece of mail which had to be delivered by noon.

“The piece was going to my sister’s best friend’s mom, and she was at the end of my route,” Moule said. “So I asked my supervisor if I could deviate and deliver that piece first, and they gave me permission.”

Moule was familiar with the woman, as she was in a wheelchair and would get up in the morning and unlock her door, so Moule could bring her mail in to her. That particular morning, Moule arrived at the lady’s house three hours earlier than usual.

“I took her mail in to her, but that day I knew something was wrong,” Moule said. “She couldn’t find words to communicate with me. “I said, ‘Honey, I can’t leave you like this. I’m going to call an ambulance.’ The lady said no, and I told her I knew she would be mad at me, but I had to call the ambulance.”

Moule waited until the ambulance arrived, and told them something was wrong with the lady. She told Moule she had gotten up as usual and made her bed, but then became confused and couldn’t think. Moule knew she had had a stroke in November and her medications had been changed. She shared this information with the paramedics on the ambulance. They asked if the lady usually acted like that, and Moule told them, “Absolutely not. I’ve talked to her every day for the last two years and this is not normal.”

The lady ended up in the hospital for three weeks, after being diagnosed as having multiple strokes. After a week, Moule went to see her and met the lady’s niece, who looks after her affairs. The first thing the niece said was, “I want to give you a hug.”

The first thing Moule wanted to do was get the niece’s contact information so she could keep in touch.

“The niece told me she keeps thinking how different things might have been if I hadn’t gotten there when I did,” Moule said. “I’m happy things aligned just right so I could get there when I did. A week later, there was a fire on my route and I called it in. I don’t think of myself as a hero. I am who I am.”

Moule’s grandfather Ray Bates was a mail carrier in Lyndonville for many years. He always told her, “As long as you can sleep at night, you’ve done the right thing.”

Moule is the first employee in the history of the Medina Post Office to win the Postmaster General Hero Award. Participating in her presentation with Vaccarella was Medina Postmaster Scott Streebel, Operations Manager Eugene Oyer Jr. and Supervisor Scott Wackenheim, who submitted Moule’s name for the award.

Employees of the Medina Post Office pose on the steps with Lisa Moule, center, who was presented with the Postmaster General Hero Award this morning by acting district manager Gary Vaccarella, who stands beside her.

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