Dawn Hritz wasn’t even supposed to be driving on Route 30 at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

But she was.

A forgotten karate uniform for her son and earlier-than-expected ride home turned into a lifesaving feat for the Hempfield woman who joined forces with Sophia Sikora and Kayla Borland, EMTs with Mutual Aid EMS, to revive a man involved in a crash on the highway.

Hritz, 40, who is pregnant, slowed to a stop near the Route 119 interchange in Southwest Greensburg and saw a crash about four cars ahead. She got out, prepared to use her skills as a nurse to help anyone who might be hurt.

There was a triaxle truck farther down the highway, but Hritz went to a wrecked car that was smoking and found a man inside. She quickly realized he needed medical attention.

As Hritz opened the car door and pulled him out, both fell to the ground. She started CPR, and Sikora and Borland jumped in to help after witnessing the crash from the westbound lanes and looping around into eastbound traffic.

“We just worked as a team,” she said.

It worked.

“We did eventually get him back,” Hritz said.

The man was transported to AHN Forbes Hospital in Monroeville where he remained Friday, according to his sister Lindsay Rager.

“I am so blessed and glad there was a civilian nurse right there at the right time,” Rager said. “I truly can’t thank her enough.”

The highway was closed for four hours as state police reconstructed the crash. Southwest Greensburg fire Chief Bill Wright Jr. said both vehicles were traveling on Route 30 east at the time of the collision. The triaxle driver was not hurt.

In that situation, first responders can get there quickly, but every minute matters when it comes to someone’s life, he said.

“We were on scene within four minutes of being dispatched, and she was already there doing the CPR,” Wright said. “She was in the right place at the right time for that driver.”

Mutual Aid’s Airport Station paramedic supervisor Dave Crescenzo said brain damage can start within four to six minutes of not having oxygen. He was at the crash and said it’s important to initiate CPR as quickly as possible.

After Hritz got back into her car, she had an emotional moment, she said. While she regularly works with patients at Independence Health Latrobe and Westmoreland hospitals as an IV nurse, being thrown into that type of situation with only her knowledge and training to rely on was stressful.

Hritz also emphasized the importance of having CPR training, but on Friday, while reflecting on the previous day’s events, she said anyone could have helped. It bothered her that fellow motorists didn’t get out of their vehicles or show any empathy toward another human being.

“I was the only person that went up to his car,” she said, adding other motorists apparently ignored Hritz waving her arms to try to get additional help after she realized how dire the situation was.

“The worst thing you could do is not do anything,” she said. “You could go up and talk to him.”

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