LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jude Zoeller, a UPS employee, was pulling into Clark Memorial Hospital in Jeffersonville, Indiana, around 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 20, when he spotted Ken Nolan laying on the ground on a sidewalk near the entrance to the medical plaza near the hospital.
Zoeller said he was unloading boxes of medical supplies from his truck when he first spotted the 79-year-old man, laying facedown behind a large sign.
"His torso looked like it was kind of resting on the base of the sign," Zoeller said. "At the angle from the parking lot with the cars and everything, I was probably the first person to see him."
Knowing precious time was ticking by, Zoeller rushed inside the nearby medical plaza to get help. Medical staff came out and began CPR.
Bryan Boone, director of emergency services for Clark Memorial Health, said staff determined Zoeller's heart had stopped, and they used an AED to revive him.
"He was in a ventricular fibrillation rhythm," Boone said. "It's a rhythm where your heart is just quivering. It's not pumping any blood, so he was essentially dead."
Nolan had been on his way to follow-up with a doctor about his treatment for prostate cancer in an area on a different side of the medical complex from the hospital's emergency room. So Boone said his team called for an ambulance to help move Nolan and save time.
"If he hadn't been seen, or somebody didn't take the appropriate intervention to go get help, we probably wouldn't be here celebrating," Boone said.
Nolan was placed on a ventilator for two days as medical staff closely monitored him. His family said after one attempt to put in a pacemaker failed because his body was too weak from his cancer, a successful surgery took place Tuesday.
Zoeller said after Nolan was taken to the hospital, he continued his route and anxiously waited for an update.
"I left my name and number with the hospital chaplain so I would know what would happen," Zoeller said. "I didn't know Mr. Nolan's name at the time. I just wanted to know if he was OK or no. And I got a call about an hour later and was told that he had made it and just breathed a huge sigh of relief. I thought I was going to see someone pass away right in front of me."
Zoeller was there when staff who provided emergency aid to Nolan saw him again in the lobby of Clark Memorial.
"It makes me feel like I did something very meaningful, especially in the context of his family there," Zoeller said. "You can see that they are just very, very happy to have their father there. He looms very large in their life."
Nolan repeatedly thanked Zoeller for his actions, but Zoeller said the credit should go to the medical personnel who responded so quickly.
Nurses said Nolan is recovering well after his surgery and is undergoing physical therapy to help him regain mobility.
Nolan's family said t this isn't the first time he had fallen. In 2020, they said he fell outside a Burger King in Maine while visiting family, but nobody stopped to help him get back up. That time, they said he fell due to weak legs after chemo, and they said they are thankful Zoeller was there this time when things were more serious.
Nolan said he thinks UPS should give Zoeller a special honor, but Zoeller said he is only focused on Nolan's road to recovery and would help him again in a heartbeat.
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