MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — Amanda Blaugher, assistant director of residence life at Penn State Harrisburg, and Krystal Huber, a resident assistant at the campus, recently were awarded Certificates of Advocacy by Margaret Wilson, the acting director of the Lebanon VA Medical Center.
The two assisted 75-year-old Michael Reap, a United States armed forces veteran, who wandered into Penn State Harrisburg’s student housing complex after being reported missing from the Frey Village Retirement Center in Middletown on Nov. 5.
A Penn State Harrisburg student located Reap at the back of Juniata Hall where he was attempting to gain entrance through the emergency exit.
The student contacted Huber, who was the resident assistant on duty that weekend, and after evaluating the situation, Huber alerted Blaugher, who was also on duty at the time.
“As I came closer to the door, I peeked around the hallway corner to see if the man was still standing at the door, and he was,” Huber said. “I followed residence life protocol and contacted the professional staff member on duty.”
Blaugher, who was unaware of the missing person report at that time, notified police services of the incident. An officer then helped Reap to a safe return to Frey Village.
“Our response in these situations is always to try to contain the situation until police services arrives. Since there were residents in the area watching what was happening, we took the opportunity to remind them about the policies around not letting people they don't know into the building and to explain to them what was being done as a result of this situation,” Blaugher said.
Huber and Blaugher were presented with a Certificate of Advocacy by the Lebanon VA Medical Center in recognition of their “work with a veteran in need,” with Wilson emphasizing that “caring for veterans is a community effort.”
“It was an honor to be recognized for our actions. Hearing the full story and more details about the gentleman himself makes it even more of an honor because we helped a veteran safely get back to where he had come from,” Huber said.