A new bride leaving her wedding reception downtown ended her night as a hero for a woman found lying unresponsive on a downtown bench Saturday night.
Julie Stroyne, a trauma nurse at UPMC-Presbyterian Hospital, was leaving the reception at The Pennsylvanian hotel just before making the rescue.
Darlene Limpert, a family friend who attended the reception, witnessed the event in its entirety.
“My husband and I walked across the street to wait for people to come so we sat on a bench,” Limpert said.
As Limpert and her husband waited for newlywed couple they noticed a woman lying yards away on on a nearby bench.
“We thought, ‘Is this right? Should we do something?’” Limpert said. “A gentleman who we thought was a bartender thought she may have been drinking and had been checking on her.”
As the couple emerged, someone shouted out that the woman wasn’t breathing.
“She didn’t hesitate for a second,” Limpert said. “It was unbelievable.”
While still wearing her wedding dress, Stroyne sprinted to the woman and performed CPR as bystanders called 911.
“I don’t know who the woman was or who kept checking on her but luckily Julie was there, because who knows?” Limpert said.
Following the incident, the wedding party managed to attend their post-reception event.
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