ER Doctor Nearly Dies on Lunch Break—Saved by Quick-Thinking Cafeteria Cashier

It was a terrifying moment inside Loyola University Medical Center’s cafeteria. An ER doctor nearly lost her life—not to a medical emergency in the trauma ward, but to a chicken sandwich during her lunch break.

Dr. Joan Dimopoulos, a seasoned emergency physician, was eating when food became lodged in her throat. Unable to breathe, she threw her hands to her neck—the universal choking sign. “I couldn’t breathe,” she recalled. “It was terrifying.”

Surrounded by stunned onlookers, one person jumped into action: 23-year-old cafeteria cashier Keztly Angel. Without hesitation, Angel performed the Heimlich maneuver she had learned in high school.

“I just knew I had to do something,” Angel later told CBS Chicago. “Everyone else was just standing there, but I wasn’t going to let her die right in front of me.”

Days later, Loyola Medicine honored Angel in a special ceremony. Dr. Dimopoulos, visibly emotional, handed her rescuer flowers and embraced her. “She had the courage to help me,” the doctor said. “I don’t know what would have happened if she hadn’t stepped in. I’m just so grateful she was there.”

Angel admitted it was the very first time she had ever used the life-saving technique outside of training. “I made sure I got up and did something,” she said. “It was instinct.”

The cafeteria worker learned the Heimlich maneuver while attending Proviso East High School in Maywood, Illinois—a detail that highlights the importance of CPR and first aid training in schools. “Her knowledge of knowing what to do and then the courage to really do it for somebody that you don’t know… that’s what saved me,” Dimopoulos said.

Angel, who recently celebrated her one-year anniversary working at Loyola, says she loves her job—but never imagined she’d be saving the life of a doctor in the hospital cafeteria. “I love it here,” she said. “The team is amazing, and it’s a great environment to work in.”

The dramatic lunchtime ordeal is a reminder that emergencies don’t just happen in operating rooms or ER bays—they can strike anywhere, even among the doctors who save others every day.

For Dr. Dimopoulos, it was a lesson in humility and gratitude. “There were a lot of people around,” she said, “but she’s the one who helped me right away.”