How Coworkers Saved Royal Oak Woman's Life

Helen Frizzo helped the Royal Oak Fire Department honor two of her colleagues who quickly performed CPR and saved her life after she suffered a near-fatal heart attack. (City of Royal Oak photo)

• Get the Royal Oak Patch daily newsletter and news alerts and like us on Facebook.

A Royal Oak woman who says she owes her life to coworkers who quickly performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation made a plea to others in the city to learn the technique when her personal heroes were honored Monday at the Royal Oak City Commission meeting.

“If you’ve saved a life you’ve changed the world,” Helen Frizzo, 78, said, directing her comments to coworkers Jamila Wilson and Steve Connolly, who performed CPR after she suffered a heart attack at the Real Estate One office on July 28.

“And believe me, you changed my life and my family’s and my friends’ lives,” Frizzo said, according to a report in The Daily Tribune.

Wilson and Connolly were honored with life-saving awards by the Royal Oak Fire Department at Monday’s meeting. Without their quick intervention, the health emergency “could have turned out much differently” for Frizzo, said fire Sgt. Michael Gladieux.

Frizzo said she plans to take CPR classes offered by the fire department and will encourage other Royal Oak residents to do the same. The classes are offered once a month on Wednesdays and Saturdays at a cost of $40 per person. For more information, call the Royal Oak Fire Department at (248) 246-3800.

»The Daily Tribune has more about the day that changed Helen Frizzo’s life.