When an emergency happens, utility workers tend to use their training to jump right in and help. Peoples Gas recently saw this in action through two emergencies just a week apart from each other.
Cesar Arreola-Sandoval, a Peoples Gas utility worker and military veteran, had just finished his work in the basement of an apartment building in Chicago’s Garfield Park neighborhood. He was leaving when he saw a man who lives in the building slumped over in the front entrance. When Arreola-Sandoval raced over, he found the man was not only unconscious but also wasn’t breathing and had no pulse.
“I was in the right place at the right time,” said Arreola-Sandoval. His training kicked in, and while the building’s landlord called 911, Arreola-Sandoval administered CPR until an ambulance arrived. Before leaving for the hospital, the paramedics gave Arreola- Sandoval a thumbs-up, a signal the man had been stabilized. “You saved my life,” the man later told Arreola-Sandoval, who had returned to the building to check on him.
The very next week, Peoples Gas utility worker Dominique Westbrook, also a military veteran, was driving to a routine job on Chicago’s southwest side when she came upon a chaotic scene: an SUV, flipped onto its side after another vehicle collided with it. Inside were a man and a woman—and they couldn’t get out.
Onlookers were rocking the vehicle to try to get the SUV back onto its wheels. Westbrook was immediately alarmed, knowing the actions could risk injury both to the people trying to help and those being helped. “The man in the vehicle had his arm hanging out a window. His arm could have been crushed if the vehicle landed the wrong way. So,” she said, “Sergeant Westbrook kicked in.”
Leaning on her military and natural gas training, Westbrook stopped the rocking, then went inside the SUV herself to help the man and woman climb out. Afterward, she waited with them until paramedics arrived.
Arreola-Sandoval and Westbrook received training through a program run by Peoples Gas and Gas Workers Local 18007 that helps veterans start careers in the gas industry. Both were recognized for their heroic actions at an event hosted by Peoples Gas and the union.
“We conduct training that prepares our team members for very difficult situations,” Peoples Gas President Torrence Hinton said at the event. “We also have a culture of safety. Every day, we reinforce that culture. When we all look out for one another, we are all better off.”
Westbrook added, “I’m glad I was able to put that into action to help people.”