CU-Bloomburg Staff Provide Highway Help

Two CU-Bloomsburg staff members have been recognized by University Police for stopping to assist an ill traveler while traveling on Interstate 80 in October. 

At around noon on Sunday, Oct. 15, Lisa Olander ’91, student engagement coordinator in the Office of Alumni & Professional Engagement, was traveling west on I-80 near Conyngham, where traffic was at a standstill due to an accident ahead. She and her husband, Greg Olander ’91, saw a man pulled over, cradling his wife on the ground. 

The Olanders pulled their vehicle over to see if they could help and were shortly joined by off-duty CU-Bloomsburg police sergeant Drew Hirko, who was also traveling west. 

“Her husband pulled off of the interstate thinking that she was going to vomit, but she passed out and was unconscious,” recalls Olander. “He ripped her out of her seat belt and laid her on the wet earth on the brim of the road. Her color was grey, and her body was limp. She began to gain consciousness.”

“Drew was one of a few who pulled over in stopped traffic to assist my husband, me, an elderly woman, and her husband to aid this family,” Olander continues. “Drew was calm and professional and made the difference until the ambulance arrived.”

Olander expressed her admiration for Hirko’s actions to CU Police Director Leo Sokoloski. Sokoloski and Stacy Wagner, vice president for facilities and safety, sent both Hirko and Olander a letter thanking them for their concern and the courage to act on that concern.