A Nebraska truck driver is alive and well today thanks to a small team of first responders. Several passersby called police regarding a semi-truck that was seemingly disabled alongside the interstate with its blinking hazard lights engaged.
Senior Trooper John Hitchcock was the first to arrive at the scene and discovered that there was no mechanical issue with the truck. Hitchcock realized that the flashing lights were a cry for help.
He discovered the driver unconscious in the driver’s seat.
“He was noticeably discolored – purple, grayish,” said Deputy Ferguson, who arrived at the scene moments later.
Hitchcock pulled the driver from the truck, and along with Ferguson, began performing CPR. Paramedics were summoned and took over upon their arrival. The driver eventually regained consciousness and was talking to the response team a short time later.
“It did not look good at first,” Deputy Ferguson said. “You could tell it was a bad deal going on.”
Some have hailed the threesome as heroes, but to them they were simply doing their job.
According to the American Heart Association, approximately 380,000 cardiac events occur each year and less than eight percent of heart attack victims, whose event occurs outside of a medical facility, survive.
More than 70 percent of Americans do not act during a cardiac emergency because they feel that they do not have sufficient CPR training.
The American Heart Association has prepared a Hands-Only CPR instructional video.