PITTSBURGH — An off-duty nurse is being credited with saving a man’s life when he collapsed at a Pittsburgh Giant Eagle last month.
Jamie Frame jumped into action, performed CPR and used an AED before first responders arrived.
On Wednesday, he was reunited with the victim at UPMC Passavant.
It is a story of timing and of being in the right place at the right time.
“So many things had to go right that day for my dad to be standing here and with us,” Sara Gaal said.
Frame just wrapped up a 12-hour shift as a nurse in the ER at UPMC Passavant.
On his way home, he stopped by this Giant Eagle in Greenfield to pick up flowers for his wife.
“Spur-of-the-moment type thing,” Frame said.
While in the checkout line, an intercom announcement indicated someone was having a medical emergency in one of the aisles.
In his scrubs, still Jamie went to see if he could help.
“I saw Mr. Gaal collapsed on the floor. I started CPR on him. Did about 8 minutes of compressions and asked the store to bring me their AED,” Frame said.
Gary Gaal went into sudden cardiac arrest.
“It produces no pulse. No blood getting to the brain, and you collapse. You are essentially gone. You have minutes to reverse this electrical storm, and if you do not, 100% of the time you will lose the patient forever,” UPMC Cardiologist Dr. Elizabeth Piccione said.
But thanks to Frame, Gary Gaal is still here.
“Jamie, you saved a stranger that day, but to me you saved my dad,” Sara Gaal said.
The quick actions mean Gary still gets to wrap his arms around his daughter.
“I was thankful. I was grateful that someone was there to save my life. And that’s what they did. They brought me back to this world, and I’m forever grateful,” Gary Gaal said.
Gaal also met Jamie’s baby and the lucky lady whom he stopped at Giant Eagle to buy flowers for.
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