Waitress studying to become nurse saves customer who collapsed outside Levittown pizza shop
LEVITTOWN, Long Island (WABC) -- A waitress training for a future in medicine got a taste of hands-on experience when a customer suddenly collapsed outside a Long Island pizza shop while she was working.
For Saige Colleluori, a 20-year-old nursing student who also works two jobs, it was like a test, but a test she passed with flying colors.
Colleluori was waitressing at Riko's Pizza in Levittown, when her co-worker, Aidan Connors, noticed a customer he had served had an emergency.
"All of a sudden, I see a lady collapsed on the pavement outside," Connors said.
They called an ambulance but soon realized that every second would count.
"Everyone ran in and told me that she had no pulse," Colleluori said. "So, then I went outside, I checked all her pulses, I didn't feel anything."
So, Colleluori got on the ground, cleared the woman's airway and started chest compressions... about 30, she said.
"I saw it looking outside. I mean, honestly, it was incredible to see somebody with this much skill to do something like that," Connors said.
"And then she started breathing again, it was like a choke and then she started breathing again," Colleluori said.
Colleluori is in her sophomore year at Molloy University's School of Nursing, where experiential learning is a huge component. So is CPR and heart health, which really helped prepare her. Not to mention that saving lives is in her DNA. Her dad is a lieutenant in the FDNY and her mom is a nurse.
Back at Molloy, on this National Nurses Day, it's a reminder of just how valuable nurses are.
"And for someone who has that limited patient care experience to run towards an emergency and be willing to use the skills that she learned in that way... is quite an amazing story," said Molloy University Nursing Dean Marcia Gardner.
"It's just great now that I'm like, I think I can do it," Colleluori said.
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