In The News

IdleAir Employee Helps Save a Driver's Life

Yesterday at the IdleAir in Jackson, GA, an IdleAir site representative, Amanda, gave emergency CPR to a driver, helping save his life.

Amanda was at the right place at the right time: “The driver was parked behind the IdleAir office. He hadn’t been there very long. I think he had just pulled in while I was cleaning and doing maintenance.”

Two other drivers were walking to the restaurant when they saw the sick driver slump over. They got him set in his bunk.

Amanda remembers, “I had a driver call me over to the truck to say that the ambulance was on its way. While we were waiting, the driver collapsed. It all happened very quickly.”

Always ready, Amanda is CPR certified and keeps a CPR kit in the back of her car. While the other drivers were getting the sick driver laid down on his bunk, Amanda ran to get her CPR kit. Amanda performed CPR for about five minutes before the paramedics arrived.

When the paramedics arrived, they saw swelling of the abdomen, and suspected the driver might have congestive heart failure. The paramedics said it could have been a number of things, like exhaustion, but without Amanda’s help, he would have been in trouble.

Amanda wasn’t done yet. “I just wanted to make sure that his load was ok so that he doesn’t get in trouble with his company on top of everything else.  If his load needs to be somewhere, someone should come get it because it could be a few days before the driver gets out of the hospital.”

No one had a chance to get the driver’s name before the paramedics arrived, but Amanda saw the driver’s truck number, and called IdleAir customer support for help. The driver’s company is an IdleAir customer, and the IdleAir team knew just who to call. Within no time, the company sent two drivers to pick up the load. One driver was already a long-time IdleAir customer, and the other signed up on the spot. He’s spending his HOS at IdleAir, and then leaving tomorrow morning to deliver the sick driver’s load to Pennsylvania – on time and on schedule!

But Amanda still wasn’t done. She found out which hospital the sick driver was taken to, and called to find out that the driver is doing better and is in stable condition.

IdleAir has a partnership with the travel center, and gives drivers meal coupons to the restaurant. Amanda took one of the free meal coupons and made a get well soon note with some extra good news: the driver’s company pays for IdleAir. So the next time the driver wants to enjoy a quiet night’s rest (outside of the hospital!), all he needs to do is pull in to any IdleAir and friendly site representatives, like Amanda, will take care of the rest.

On behalf of everyone at IdleAir, we wish the sick driver a full and speedy recovery, and thank Amanda for going the extra mile. Stay safe, and we’ll see you soon at IdleAir.