Nursing Student Saves Life Outside Long Island Pizza Shop

When a customer collapsed with no pulse outside Riko's Pizza in Levittown, waitress Saige Colleluori didn't freeze. She dropped to the pavement and started saving a life.

Colleluori, a 20-year-old sophomore at Molloy University's School of Nursing, was mid-shift when her coworker Aidan Connors spotted the emergency. A woman who had just been inside eating had collapsed on the pavement outside.

"Everyone ran in and told me that she had no pulse," Colleluori said. She rushed outside, checked for breathing and a heartbeat, and found nothing.

Without hesitation, she cleared the woman's airway and began chest compressions. After about 30 pumps, the woman's body convulsed with a choking sound and she started breathing again.

"Honestly, it was incredible to see somebody with this much skill to do something like that," Connors said, watching from inside the shop as his coworker worked.

Colleluori credits her nursing program at Molloy University, where CPR and heart health training are core requirements. The school emphasizes experiential learning, preparing students for exactly these moments. Saving lives also runs in her family. Her dad is an FDNY lieutenant and her mom works as a nurse.

Why This Inspires

Marcia Gardner, Dean of Nursing at Molloy University, called the save remarkable for someone with limited patient care experience. "To run towards an emergency and be willing to use the skills that she learned in that way is quite an amazing story," Gardner said on National Nurses Day.

The incident happened to fall on a day dedicated to celebrating nurses nationwide. For Colleluori, juggling two jobs while studying nursing, it was the ultimate confirmation she's on the right path.

"It's just great now that I'm like, I think I can do it," she said.

One woman is alive today because a student believed her training would matter when it counted most.