It was Tuesday afternoon that an approximately 70 year-old-man from the Montgomery County area made the trip into Pikesville to purchase a kosher brisket for his family's Thanksgiving dinner.   A store clerk noticed out of the corner of his eye that the man didn't look well but he didn't give it much thought even as the man made his way gingerly through the store, using the walls for support at times.

But then a few minutes later, the man collapsed near the produce department. While an employee assumed that he had just fallen, store policy dictated that the general manager be notified.  Eli left a meeting he was having in the front of the store and as he approached the gentleman, it was clear that he was unconscious.

As it happens, Eli is an EMT, having signed up as a volunteer in 2001 right after the 9-11 attacks.  Eli served as a firefighter/EMT with the Island Park Fire Department in New York, rising through the ranks and eventually becoming a lieutenant, a heavy rescue operator, and a critical care tech.

Grateful for his training, Eli quickly got to work. The fallen man had no pulse, and Eli cleared his airway and began performing CPR with chest compressions.   Eli hit his speed-dial and called Hatzalah and things happened quickly after that.  45 seconds later, the man’s pulse returned, and he began breathing on his own.  By the time four Hatzalah EMTs arrived an additional 45 seconds later, the man was able to tell them his name.

The unnamed man’s wife and daughter came to the store on Wednesday morning to thank Eli in person and to see if they could gather more information about the incident. "The hospital wasn’t sure if the reports from the EMS that CPR was performed on him were correct, because there were literally no signs of any damage to his cognitive skills or motor skills or anything," explained Eli.
“The only signs of what took place were the presence of an enzyme indicating a heart attack and some bruising that was the result of the chest compressions I performed to revive the man."

Typically, a person who suffers an event of this type under these circumstances, either sustains substantial damage or doesn't survive because of the time it takes for help to arrive on scene.  Eli's training gave him the ability to act immediately, which likely saved the man's life.

The experience has been surreal for Eli, who realized that he had been operating on autopilot, the training he received years ago ultimately saving his customer’s life. There is no doubt in his mind that if this man hadn’t come into the store looking for kosher food, this story likely would have a very different ending.  Eli is already hard at work planning store-wide CPR training so that every employee will know what to do if a similar emergency happens again.

"If it's one thing we don't want to be, it's helpless," said Eli.

Eli described the scene as incredibly humbling.

"I never thought this could happen to me,” said Eli. “I just happened to be at the right place at the right time."

And it's a good thing he was.