Superhero Saves a Life at Broadview at Purchase

It wasn’t the cape that made Jorge Arias feel like a superhero. It was saving a life.

“It made me feel wonderful to save a life,’’ said Arias in Spanish through a translator. “I would do it again.”

Arias works in the environmental department at Broadview at Purchase, a senior living community on the campus of Purchase College. On February 28 he was presented with a superhero cape and honored at the community birthday party for his role in saving the life of a resident who was choking.

Arias’ brush with heroism happened in February. As he was cleaning at the front desk, he heard shouts for help coming from the nearby dining room. When Arias arrived, he found people huddling around a resident.

“I’d had some experience with this before and I recognized right away that he was choking,’’ said Arias, who proceeded to perform the Heimlich maneuver.

Arias, who lives in Sleepy Hollow but originally hails from the Dominican Republic, said he might not have made the save at all if it were not for a recent Red Cross course he took organized by Broadview.  Arias said that because of the course, he knew all the steps to take to perform the life-saving maneuver.

Steve Shelov, a former dean of NYU Long Island School of Medicine who serves as chairman of the Health & Wellness Committee at Broadview, said he was proud of Arias and excited to hear that one of the class participants had saved a resident’s life.

Shelov has been working with the Health & Wellness Committee to organize an emergency preparedness program for residents and staff. In the courses, students learn the Heimlich maneuver, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and how to use an automated external defibrillator in cases of cardiac arrest.

Broadview Human Resources Director Natascia Orru said Broadview likes to provide its employees with training and the opportunity for enrichment. Retired teachers who live at Broadview run an English as a Second Language program for employees, which is very popular. Arias has participated in that program as well.

Arias said he was very moved when Broadview presented him with the cape. But what really brought tears to his eyes was when the resident and his wife expressed their gratitude when they saw him the next day.

“It was an amazing feeling,’’ he said.