Hotel Hero Awards

Yahane Mendel, Hotel Whitcomb

For over ten years, Yahane Mendel has delivered genuine hospitality and dedication to the guests of the Hotel Whitcomb as a Bellman extraordinaire.  Yahane immigrated to the United States from a small East African country 13 years ago in hopes of creating a bright future for his wife and five children.  Fluent in several languages, he is able to make people from all corners of the globe feel at home.  He has a ready smile and meets each day….and guest…with warmth and enthusiasm that is positively contagious.  His mantra is, “Being grateful for every day is a blessing in itself.”

His truly heroic actions brought those words of wisdom to a guest in a very profound manner.  Last November, a guest had a heart attack in his room.  Yahane heard the emergency alert on the switchboard and sprang into action.  He ran to the elevators but noticed that guests were waiting, so he ran up the stairs to the fifth floor guestroom.  He later related that he thought, “Every second gone is a breath of the guest wasted.”  So, he pushed himself to run faster.  Outside the room, a housekeeper was calling for help and the guest’s fiancée was in tears and in great distress.  Yahane rushed into the room where the guest was on the bed, lifeless, with no heartbeat, and beginning to turn blue.  Yahane began to administer CPR…..no response.  Yahane tried faster and harder to bring him back…still awaiting the ambulance…but Yahane did not stop, he couldn’t give up.  Finally, a pulse…color begins to return to the man’s face as the paramedics arrive and took over the CPR.  He was literally brought back to life by Yahane’s actions and determination. 

Of course, Yahane was commended for his actions.  Although the guest lived only a few more hours after the incident, in those hours he was made aware of the care and love surrounding him.  It was time on this earth that would not have happened if Yahane had not risen above and Beyond the Call of Duty.