Cindy Zimmerman, manager of the emergency department at Temple Health-Chestnut Hill Hospital, has over 35 years of nursing experience, but that lifestyle extends beyond her job.

“I’m not a nurse just in the four walls of the hospital,” Zimmerman said. “As a nurse, we should help everywhere.”

This philosophy recently came in handy for Zimmerman — and saved a woman’s life.

Using her expertise

On Dec. 10, 2025, Zimmerman checked her GPS after work to see which route to her home in Reading would be fastest. That day, it happened to be the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

While driving, Zimmerman noticed a car pulled over on the side of the road. In front of the car was a safety patrol truck.

“Looking back, I probably would not have stopped if it was just the car alone,” Zimmerman recalled. “There’s cars on the side of the road all the time. But when I saw the truck, that made me do a double take.”

She pulled over and found two turnpike workers, John Gallagher and Doug Sarver, assisting a woman in distress. Taking a quick look at the driver, Zimmerman immediately recognized the gravity of the situation.

“I assess people every day. It’s what I do,” Zimmerman explained. “I’ll assess people from across a room. It’s just something you learn as a nurse. You watch how they walk, you look at how they’re behaving, you look at their facial expression and their color.”

Zimmerman felt for the woman’s pulse, but didn’t feel one. She started CPR. About five minutes later, an ambulance arrived. Zimmerman continued doing compressions as the EMTs loaded the woman onto a stretcher and into the ambulance, at which point she started to stir.

“I said to [the EMTs], ‘I feel a pulse. She’s moving. I think we’re out of that danger zone for right now,’” Zimmerman said. “And then they went to work.”

As the medical team began to work on the woman, Zimmerman walked over to Gallagher and Sarver and informed them the woman was breathing again and headed to the hospital.

The power of helping others

After the ordeal, Zimmerman knew Gallagher and Sarver deserved recognition. She decided to contact the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to share their story. A media relations staffer from the commission replied to Zimmerman’s note and connected the three heroes.

Shortly after, Zimmerman was in her office at Chestnut Hill Hospital when she heard a knock at the door. She opened it to find Gallagher standing there with flowers and a card.

“I opened up the door and there he was. I just started crying,” Zimmerman said. “It still gives me goosebumps. He gave me flowers and we took pictures outside. He’s just a really neat man.”

Zimmerman didn’t think she would hear from the driver, but local media coverage of the story inspired the woman to reach out on Facebook. The two spoke on the phone for an hour and Zimmerman found out the woman was having surgery to put a defibrillator in her chest. After the operation, Zimmerman came to the rescue again — this time with a hearty meal.

“I took her chili,” Zimmerman said. “She was like, ‘I can’t believe you saved my life and you cooked chili for me.’ The chili is not as good as me saving your life, let’s just put it that way.”

For Zimmerman, this experience taught her a valuable lesson of the power of helping others.

“I want people to know how wonderful it is to stop and help someone,” Zimmerman said. “Even if you see someone that’s lost or confused, or needs help to carry their groceries, just stop and help people. It’s just so important.”

Maggie Dougherty can be reached at Margaret@chestnuthilllocal.com.