Keith Ezell knows a thing or two about helping people.
Jumping in to save a life was second nature for the VA Medical Center nurse assistant, who was in the right place at the right time.
It was just after 6 p.m. on Sunday, February 19.
36-year-old Keith Ezell was on the way to the store for his mom, when he heard the 2 car crash at Broadrock and Broadview in Parma.
The driver begging on behalf of his passenger.
"He said, Oh my God! She's not breathing! Help me! Help me!" Ezell told WKYC Channel 3 News.
Ezell had recently completed a new CPR class and had the respiratory mask in his backpack when he rolled up on the car accident and jumped into action.
He says he knew every second counted for the 23-year-old woman passenger in one of the cars
"She was pretty much gone. So I put her on the ground and administered CPR," said Ezell.
He worked for at least 5 minutes, all the while thinking, "I have to get her back. She was turning blue. She had no pulse and I kept thinking she can't die on me," said Ezell.
When paramedics took over, Ezell heard the words that made it all worth it.
"They said they got a pulse! And I thought, my job is done. She gets to live," Ezell says with a smile.
But here's a part of the story that reminds us all of a sad reality that continues to rear its ugly head.
It turns out paramedics had to administer Narcan to the woman for a heroin overdose once they got there.
Ezell says he called the hospital to check on her and was told she survived.
It's a story that started when Ezell stepped up and did his "job".
"Yeah. It's second nature. I do this at the VA. Healthcare at the VA for 16 years and it is pretty much second nature," says Ezell.
In fact, after he helped save a life, Ezell got into his car and went straight into work, at his "real" job, at the VA.