Store Manager, Former EMT, Saves Unconscious Customer: ‘It’s A Humbling Experience To Save A Life’

NEW YORK (VINnews) — Eli Siegel, general manager of the Baltimore-based Market Maven supermarket, is a former volunteer firefighter and EMT. On Tuesday, Siegel’s skill and expertise enabled him to save the life of a customer who had fallen unconscious in his store, according to a report by the Baltimore Jewish Times.

Siegel was sitting in a meeting when he was alerted to a customer who had fallen inside the store. When Siegel arrived on the scene, he found a man in his 70’s lying unconscious on the floor. Realizing the severity of the situation, Siegel immediately called Hatzalah, a nonprofit volunteer organization that provides the community with emergency care, but since he is a trained EMT he bent down and found that the man was not breathing and had no pulse.

Siegel began performing CPR himself as stunned shoppers looked on. Within a minute of initiating chest compressions, the man started showing signs of life and by the time Hatzalah medics arrived, the man was already sitting up and breathing on his own.

The following day, the man’s wife and daughter visited Market Maven, both to thank Siegel for his actions and to get more information about the incident, Siegel said.

“The hospital wasn’t sure if the reports from the EMS that CPR was performed on him were correct, because there’s literally no signs of any damage to his cognitive skills or motor skills or anything,” Siegel said. Apparently, the only signs of what took place are the presence of an enzyme indicating a heart attack and some bruising that was the result of the chest compressions Siegel performed to revive the man.

The man was very fortunate that the incident occurred in a public place, Siegel noted.

“God forbid he would have left the store and collapsed in his car, or collapsed on the way here,” Siegel said. “We could have been having a very different conversation right now.”

Siegel previously served as a firefighter and EMT with New York’s Island Park Fire Department, he said. He joined in 2001, soon after the 9/11 attacks, and served until 2007.

While Siegel had performed CPR many times as a first responder in New York, this was the first time someone he gave CPR to regained consciousness, he said. He explained that in these situations, serious brain damage usually sets in after about five minutes, and so it is not unusual for a first responder to arrive too late to revive a person.

“It’s a very humbling experience, to be able to do this and save somebody’s life like that,” said Siegel, a resident of Pikesville and member of Pikesville Jewish Congregation.

Siegel views this incident as concrete proof of how important it is for individuals to receive first response training, or at least a course in CPR.

“If I was not at the store, or if somebody hadn’t been in the store that would have some sort of medical knowledge of what to do in this situation, this person would not be alive today,” Siegel said. “There’s no question about it.”