The Floyd employee was one of 11 Georgia hospital employees honored at the inaugural event in Atlanta.

In what could have been a scene from a movie, Coughlin saved several motorists who had been injured in a multi-car accident. After bandaging motorists in two cars, Coughlin then noticed a third car filling with smoke. Without a thought for his own safety and with smoke billowing from the hood of the car, Coughlin enlisted the help of a few other men to lift the back of the car and move it away from the guardrail to help them better reach the trapped, pregnant woman, but they still could not reach her.

Coughlin climbed inside the car and tried to move the woman's seat back and remove her from the car from behind. When that didn't work, he climbed on top of the car, and with the help of the other men, bent the window frame of the car door down and out of the way.

He reached into the driver's seat and pulled the woman out of her car into the waiting arms of two other men. He helped the woman to lie down and seconds later, a series of booms and fire erupted from her car. Fearing a major explosion, Coughlin moved the woman to a safer place. Just as he did so, the car exploded into a ball of fire and smoke. He stayed with the woman, holding her head to prevent any injury to her neck until EMS and firefighters arrived.

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