Workers at Estero Publix save customer’s life

Quick thinking by two store employees saved a woman’s life at a Publix in Estero.

The pair jumped into action last week when the customer had a medical emergency, having been trained by their employer for such a situation, and it’s a good thing because, in this instance, every second counted.

The woman had no pulse after passing out in a store aisle last Friday. Thankfully, the pharmacist knew what to do and reacted quickly.’

“She was passed out with blood all around her head. She didn’t have a pulse, so I start doing compressions on her and Alex went and grabbed an AED,” said Pharmacy Manager Dillon Alexander.

His quick thinking and the fast action of the assistant manager saved the woman’s life. That and the fact they had access to a defibrillator.

“It told us to give her a shock, so we shocked her and kept doing compressions, and after about three minutes of compressions, she started to come to and breathing again.”

As a pharmacist, Alexander is used to filling prescriptions, and as a grocery store manager, Alex Beiswenger is used to serving his customers.

But the pair suddenly became lifesavers.

“It’s kind of panic mode, let’s get going, we have to save somebody, but with the training, it definitely helps you keep calm; you go through the steps of what you learned, and it definitely, in this situation, it saved a life,” Beiswenger said.

They used their training that Publix mandates for its employees to help the woman before medics arrived. It’s training they say everyone should have.

“It is important as many people as they can get CPR certified because it does help out a lot and you never know when you could, you know, potentially save someone’s life,” Alexander said.

He said he hopes the woman they saved sees this story because he’d like to meet her once she has made a full recovery.