What:

Rural Letter Carrier Chey Kahaulelio-Virelas recognized for saving elderly customer in need of medical assistance. Personal letter from the Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service Megan J. Brennan will be presented to her.

When:

Tuesday, July 9, 2019
10:00 AM

Where:

Windsor Post Office
8800 Lakewood Drive
Windsor, CA 95492

Who:

Letter Carrier Cheylyn L. Kahaulelio-Virelas
Postmaster Marek Fijalkowski

Background:

On April 23, 2019, Windsor Rural Letter Carrier Chey Kahaulelio-Virelas became concerned when she saw an elderly customer in desperate need of assistance. It was a particularly hot day and Kahaulelio-Virelas spotted an elderly couple oddly paused in the shade as she was on her appointed rounds. She noticed the elderly woman slumped over in her wheelchair and her husband trying to comfort her by holding her arm.

Her instincts told her something was wrong, so she circled back onto the street and found that the woman had fallen out of her wheelchair, striking her head on the sidewalk.

Kahaulelio-Virelas rushed out of her vehicle to come to the aid of the woman, accompanied by a neighbor. Kahaulelio-Virelas had only moments ago delivered a package to an ER doctor. When she saw the wounds and blood on the woman, she immediately went to the doctor’s house and alerted him of the situation. The ER doctor was able to aid the woman and made sure she made it to the hospital.

Without the speedy and intuitive reaction by Kahaulelio-Virelas, the woman could have suffered prolonged injury and may not have made it to the hospital in time.

After almost two decades of being a rural carrier in Windsor,  Kahaulelio-Virelas had no second thoughts or guesses about coming to the customer’s aid; “When you’re on a route this long, you get to know your customers, said Kahaulelio-Virelas. “We’re more than just carriers; we’re counselors and the eyes and ears of the communities we serve. It was more of a feeling I had. I didn’t want him to lose his wife today.”

Please call Marek Fijalkowski at: (707) 838-6531 to RSVP and for assistance entering the facility.

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