As she delivered a pizza, Sophia Furtado found her customer unconscious on a driveway
Sophia Furtado was nearing the end of her shift as a DoorDash driver when her otherwise uneventful evening took a terrifying turn. As she pulled up to a home in Bristol County, Mass., to deliver a Papa Gino’s pizza on Feb. 11, her customer, Caryn Hebert Sullivan, was lying motionless on the driveway — a pool of blood encircling her head.
Immediately, Furtado sprinted into the house and screamed for help. Hebert Sullivan’s husband, Robert, who was asleep, bolted downstairs.
“It happened so fast,” recalled Furtado, 26. “I was freaking out because I didn’t know how much longer she had.” They called 911 and Furtado — who trained four years ago to become an emergency medical technician — calmly relayed the details to the dispatcher.
She estimated that Hebert Sullivan, 55, had been unconscious for about 15 minutes, given that her blood had started congealing. It was 30 degrees that night. “You guys need to come out here right now,” Furtado told the dispatcher. “This is serious.”
As they waited for help, Furtado instructed Robert Sullivan to retrieve gauze and a towel to stop the bleeding, and a blanket to keep Hebert Sullivan warm. She also stabilized Hebert Sullivan’s neck to prevent a potential spinal injury.
“The EMT training definitely helped at that very moment,” Furtado said. “If I was to take any longer or not take the steps that I took, I feel like she wouldn’t be here today.”
Law enforcement officers who were at the scene praised Furtado’s quick thinking.
“What Sophia did that night is not something anyone would just do. We have all worked long enough in this field to have seen people walk away, run away, drive away, pull out their phone, or simply watch,” Jillian Jodoin, an officer with the Fairhaven Police Department, said in an email to The Washington Post.
“Sophia sprung into action, alerted Robert, activated the emergency response system, implemented materials needed, rendered aid, and helped officers streamline information gathering,” Jodoin said. “She saved a life.”
Hebert Sullivan, who was waiting outside for her pizza delivery when she stumbled and fell unconscious around 10 p.m., has little recollection of the events.
“My knee just gave out, and I went to grab the banister and I slipped,” she said, adding that she had recently injured her knee and arm, which explains the collapse. “I fell and hit my head.”
Hebert Sullivan recalled “laying there in the driveway, freezing” and seeing “a lot of white clouds.” Beyond that, though, “I don’t remember a lot of anything.”
She suffered two brain bleeds and remained in the hospital for three weeks. Had Furtado not found her at the time she did, “my neurologist said, I only had 10 more minutes to live,” said Hebert Sullivan, who has two children — ages 23 and 21 — and a 2-year-old granddaughter. “To be here is incredible.”
Hebert Sullivan called Furtado her “guardian angel.”
“I would not have made it if she didn’t come,” she said.
Furtado stayed at the scene until the ambulance left, and she asked Jodoin to keep her posted on Hebert Sullivan’s condition. Once Hebert Sullivan was stable, her husband contacted DoorDash to get Furtado’s phone number so that he could express his gratitude.
“He was super-thankful,” Furtado said.
But no one was more appreciative of Furtado’s efforts that evening than Hebert Sullivan herself. The moment she mustered enough energy to call Furtado, she did. The two have spoken nearly every day since.
“She saved me,” said Hebert Sullivan, who before the accident worked at an elementary school as a cafeteria worker. “We’ve become quite close.”
Not only did Furtado check in on Hebert Sullivan during her hospital stay, but she has also been supportive throughout the challenging recovery process.
When Hebert Sullivan left the hospital in early March, “I could not write, I could not walk, I couldn’t do anything,” she said. “I had to learn everything all over again. Every day is a challenge.”
Herbert Sullivan said she has a strong support system of family and friends, which now includes Furtado, as well as Furtado’s fiance and their two children. “I’m going to get through this,” Herbert Sullivan said.
“I know she’s grateful, and I’m grateful for our relationship,” Furtado said, adding that they have met each other’s families and that Hebert Sullivan gave her children Easter gifts. “She is amazing.”
Furtado gave up her dream of becoming a paramedic several years ago after she failed the National Registry certification test. Given that she had two young children to look after, “for me to have to do that all over again wasn’t in our best interest,” Furtado explained. “I had to find something that was going to make me money now.”
So she started driving for DoorDash. The company — which has faced backlash in recent years over using customer tips to offset worker wages, mounting costs to customers and other issues — was a good fit with her schedule. Being a DoorDash driver offers her flexibility to look after her children during the day when her fiance is at work. Her shift usually is 4:30 p.m. to midnight.
She’s hopeful that once her family is in a better financial situation, she will be able to go back to school.
The experience of saving Hebert Sullivan that night affirmed to Furtado that she still wants to pursue her goal of becoming a paramedic. With financial aid from DoorDash — which offered her a $1,000 educational grant — she is one step closer to getting there.
Furtado was presented with the grant, as well as a lifesaving award from the Fairhaven Police Department, on April 20. A local emergency rescue service also offered her a discounted rate to join their emergency medical training program.
“I would love to go back to school and make it happen,” Furtado said. Either way, she added, “knowing that Caryn made it was the real reward for me.”
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