'Right place at the right time': 3 women revive man with no pulse at Plum restaurant - TribLIVE

Pam Popko was visiting her parents in Plum this month when her father suggested they have dinner at John Anthony’s.

Erin Shepherd was there the same night with her mom, an aunt and some of their friends who go for the restaurant’s Wednesday night specials.

Neither woman knew the other. But that didn’t stop them, along with a third woman, from jumping into action and saving the life of a man John Anthony’s owner Gina D’Acierno said was dead on the floor of her restaurant after suffering a seizure.

“He was blue. He was gone,” D’Acierno said. “I didn’t think he was going to make it, to be honest with you. Those women, they kept working on him. It was truly something to see.”

It happened between 7 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 6. D’Acierno said the man, from New Mexico, was in town visiting family with plans to attend the Thursday night Steelers game against the New England Patriots at Acrisure Stadium.

Shepherd, 27, of Plum was a licensed emergency medical technician and now works in cardiac research.

Popko, 60, of Canonsburg has been a nurse for nearly 40 years. A Plum native, she was spending the night at her parents’ home to take her mother to a medical appointment early the next morning.

The third woman did not respond to an interview request.

“It was definitely an act of God, in my opinion, that all three of them were there at the right time,” D’Acierno said. “It was meant to be they were there.”

John Anthony’s was full that night.

Shepherd said she was sitting with her back to the man’s table when she heard a woman yelling and turned around. The man was beginning to turn purple and convulsing as the woman was trying to get him to the floor.

The man’s sister told them he had seizures and cardiac issues before, Shepherd said. The seizure put him into cardiac arrest.

As Shepherd was helping, Popko and the third woman came over.

Popko said she ran over after her father told her someone was in trouble. She described the man’s color as a “horrible” grayish-purple. He was unresponsive, not breathing and had no pulse.

D’Acierno was in her downstairs office when a server ran down and told her someone had collapsed. She came upstairs to find the full restaurant quiet, the tables moved away, and everyone watching what was going on.

“It was like everything was being taken care of,” she said. “I took one look and knew these women had everything under control.”

The women worked together to perform CPR on the man. They relayed to a 911 operator what they were doing and put a smartwatch on his wrist to check his vital signs.

“Everybody reacted really quickly,” Shepherd said. “Everybody had a job and did it well.”

The man started to wake up after about three cycles of CPR, Popko said.

“He was very disoriented and to some degree a bit combative. He didn’t know what was going on,” Popko said. “We started talking to him and telling him he was safe and there were paramedics on the way. His color started to improve by the time the emergency services came.”

Plum EMS got there quickly, Shepherd said.

Despite what happened, D’Acierno said the man made it to the Steelers game before returning home.

“I’m just thankful for the other two women that were there, and to hear that he’s doing well,” Shepherd said.

When it was over, Popko said she sat back at her table and packed up her dinner, a sandwich she had only been three bites into. She spent some time in bed that night reflecting on what happened.

“I hope we did OK by him,” she said. “I’m just glad I was there to help.”

Plum Mayor Harry Schlegel said he is preparing proclamations to honor all three women for their actions that night.

“Everybody was in the right place at the right time,” D’Acierno said. “If all three of them weren’t there, I don’t know if he would have made it.”

Brian C. Rittmeyer is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Brian by email at brittmeyer@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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