Vienna Sanitation Worker Saves Life with CPR

Performing CPR and saving lives were not part of the job description when local Vienna sanitation worker Gul Nabi applied for his current job.

Nevertheless, that’s how Nabi spent his day in the office Friday, performing potentially life-saving CPR on a local resident he saw struggling while he attended to his garbage truck route.

Per NBC Washington, which first reported the story, Nabi was substituting on the garbage route (he normally works street maintenance) when he saw a woman struggling as she left her home alone.

Nabi knew immediately something was off about this woman, and upon checking on her he discovered she was choking on a pill she had failed to swallow only minutes earlier. The woman, later identified as Jane Evans, said she pressed her medical alert pendant when she began choking, but admitted she panicked and left her home in hopes of finding more immediate help.

As it turns out, she left her house at just the right time, and Nabi certainly picked a great day to fill in on the trash truck.

The sanitation worker turned local hero performed CPR, dislodged the pill, found a neighbor to assist Evans and then promptly returned to his route, never seeking any thanks or praise or applause for his efforts.

That didn’t stop Evans from praising Nabi to his bosses, however. Even after she learned that every Town of Vienna employee undergoes mandatory first aid training (including CPR training) as part of the hiring process, she was still impressed with his character and his poise in a potentially unsettling situation.

“He recognized the problem, he knew what to do and he did it, not worrying whether he’s going to get sued down the road,” Evans told NBC Washington. “He saw somebody in distress and helped them. I think that’s admirable in today’s society.”