VIENNA, Ohio (WKBN) – A Vienna woman is being recognized for her quick actions that helped save a man’s life. Now, she’s hoping her experience will encourage other people to learn how to use CPR, since you never know when you may need to use it.

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“It makes a difference. I’m hoping it made a difference in this man named Lee’s life,” said Elizabeth Haddle.

Haddle is being honored for her quick actions aboard a Southwest Airlines flight. The Mathews School Board president and nurse recently received the American Heart Association’s Heartsaver Hero Award for performing CPR that saved a man’s life.

“It was a very terrifying moment because I haven’t done it in so long,” Haddle said.

Haddle was traveling with a group from Pittsburgh to Arizona on April 7. As she rushed to get on her connecting flight in Denver, the man in front of her fell in the aisle.

“I looked at his color and I’m like, oh my goodness. So I put my grandson and threw everything down and you know, no pulse, no anything. So I screamed for help because I needed to roll him over and started the compressions,” Haddle said.

With help from another nurse who wasn’t on the flight and an AED, the man was revived.

“He was responding when he was taken off the plane and actually thanked me, so that was really nice,” Haddle said. “Somewhere out there in West Virginia, there’s a man named Lee and I hope he’s alive and well.”

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“It’s a scary situation and to overcome that and be calm and actually remember the skills that you learned is amazing,” said Capt. Renee Waldo with the Vienna Fire Training Center.

Scenarios like this are why the American Heart Association stresses the importance of learning CPR.

“Working with CPR and defibrillation, you have all the tools, you have a huge increase in survival rates,” said Mike Kerr, an advocate with the American Heart Association.

Haddle hopes her experience will encourage others to get training too.

“Just take the class. It’s a few hours of your time and you could make a big difference in somebody’s life, a family’s life,” Haddle said.