Katrina Aviles accepts her Coin Award accompanied by her husband Abe Aviles, an LG Health employee.
As health care professionals, Penn Medicine employees know that lifesaving care doesn’t always happen within the walls of a hospital. Sometimes it can occur in a home, in an ambulance, or while talking on the phone with a 911 dispatcher.
To honor emergency responders, including EMS, the local fire departments, law enforcement, 911 dispatchers, and general civilians, the newly founded Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health Medical Director’s Commendation Coin honors those who went above and beyond in the lifesaving care of a patient or fellow citizen.
Award nominations are reviewed by the LG Health Medical Directors of the Emergency, Trauma, Stroke, and Cardiovascular departments. Once selected, Coin recipients are honored at a small ceremony at Lancaster General Hospital (LGH).
The first three recipients of the Commendation Coin were members of the Lancaster community; two were children who bravely responded when a caregiver needed their help.
Katrina Aviles, a Lancaster County resident, received the Coin for her lifesaving actions in 2021 when she arrived home and noticed her neighbor’s house on fire. She risked her own life by running into her neighbor’s house and carrying her neighbor out to safety. In February, Katrina was given the Coin with her husband, Abe Aviles, an LGH security officer, in attendance.
Sophie and Mitchell Usner accept their Coin Awards at a ceremony in the lobby of LGH.
The second recipients are siblings Mitchell Usner, a 10-year-old boy, and Sophie Usner, a 7-year-old girl. Mitchell and Sophie were at before-school care when the care provider tripped and fell. Although she said she was fine and did not need any assistance, the siblings knew something wasn’t right. They called their dad, who activated the 911 alert and the individual was rushed to LGH and treated for a stroke.
The care provider has since been discharged after receiving care at LGH and Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital. Thanks to the quick thinking of Mitchell and Sophie, she is expected to have few to no neurological deficits following the event.
The siblings’ Coin ceremony was also held in the James Street Lobby of LGH in February with their family, a trauma nurse from LGH, Mitchell’s football coach, and family members of the care provider.