Costco Manager’s Phone Call to Late Employee Likely Saved Ohio Man’s Life

A Costco employee may have his employers to thank for saving his life after he suffered a stroke at his home in Ohio.

Jesse Orsborn became concerned when one of his employees didn't show up for his scheduled 5 a.m. shift on Dec. 28, he told local news outlet WEWS. After 15 minutes went by without any sign from the employee, the staff decided to give him a call to check up on him.

“There’s times when we oversleep, so there’s times when we call and say, ‘Are you up?’ That’s what initiated the call, but then, it turned into something a lot more," Orsborn said.

It did, in fact, turn into something more.

When the unidentified employee picked up the phone, his coworkers had trouble understanding him, and the call ended abruptly.

“That alarmed us,” Dave Mackin, the Costco’s assistant general manager, said. “We started calling several times, eventually getting back in touch with him again. More mumbling and groaning. It was obvious he was having some sort of medical emergency.”

The employee was suffering from a stroke, and his coworkers lept into action by keeping him on the line while others called 911 to send an ambulance over to him.

“We take care of our employees. They mean the world to us. Without our employees, we can’t do this job, so we look out for one another,” Mackin said.

The man was later released from the hospital, but has yet to return to work as he recovers from the scary medical incident.