Lifesaving teamwork

The call went out on the workroom floor: Man down!

There — behind an automated parcel bundle sorter in the Greenville, SC, Processing and Distribution Center — was Mail Handler Marcos Sanchez, unresponsive and not breathing.

There was no detectable heartbeat.

While a supervisor called 911, three postal employees got down to the business of saving a life.

Keith Barnes, a maintenance electronics technician, and David Lawter, a mail processing clerk, began performing CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while Kent Holliday, a mail handler and member of the facility’s first aid team, administered the defibrillator.

The trio revived Sanchez before the emergency team arrived and rushed him to the hospital.

Sanchez had a pacemaker implanted. He has since returned to work.


Employees featured in “Heroes’ Corner” also receive letters of commendation through the Postmaster General Heroes’ Program. The nomination form is available on Blue.