Karen Janes
Letter carrier Karen Janes was on her Cambridge, Ontario route on Jan. 25, 2000 when she saw Gloria Wills desperately pounding on the locked front door of Wills's parents' house. Janes knew that something was wrong. Wills's father, Lou Hoegy, 76, a retired building superintendent, was lying unconscious on the kitchen floor inside. A diabetic, he had missed lunch, and his blood sugar had plummeted. Realizing he was in trouble, he had just enough time to call his wife at her volunteer job, and she had alerted their daughter. Gloria told Janes that if she didn't get in, her father would die.
Janes took charge, asked a neighbor to phone 911, then grabbed a screwdriver from the garage, pried open a window and leaped inside. Cradling Lou's head in her lap, Janes helped him swallow some orange juice—a simple but lifesaving move. In minutes paramedics arrived. Checking back later, she found Lou recovered—and grateful.
