
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 2, 1995                   TAG: 9505020106
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                 LENGTH: Short

HE HAD THE TRAINING

Esley Dillon was in a bank when he heard the crash on U.S. 460 near Kmart that almost took the life of Nancy Machincia on March 2. A trained emergency medical technician and longtime member of the Longshop-McCoy Volunteer Rescue Squad, Dillon, 59, did not hesitate.

He told a bank employee to call 911 and then, in spite of the traffic bearing down on him, he rushed out to help Machincia, who had been throw from her van.

Dillon, a part-time employee in Virginia Tech's printing plant, found her lying on the pavement, unconscious, without a pulse and not breathing. He cleared her airway and heard a satisfying gurgling sound. Within minutes Christiansburg Rescue Squad members arrived and took over.

Dillon, who visited Machincia in the hospital and at home, has been flooded with thank-you notes. But he is modest about what he did.

"You can tell I'm low-keyed about this stuff. I'm just glad I could help her."

It wasn't until afterward that he realized the danger he had been in and how scared he was.

But, he said, he would do it again.

by CNB