Two Tulsa letter carriers receive Postmaster General’s Hero Award
January 31, 2015 – Dizzy from her medication, Barbara O’Banion took a horrible tumble last summer, falling face-first onto a concrete step.
The impact broke the Tulsan’s nose and cracked her cheekbones.
“I was just sitting there bleeding to death,” she said. “I lost about 3 pints. It was pouring.”
The first person to tend to her was a U.S. Postal Service worker near the end of his shift, Jeremi O’Neal, who fetched a towel to address the bleeding and comforted O’Banion until an ambulance arrived.
O’Neal and Merlie Bell, another Tulsa letter carrier who helped a woman during a medical emergency, were recognized nationally for their efforts. Each received the Postmaster General’s Hero Award in September.