KUDOS FOR CAB DRIVER
Live-saving act honoured
The Rotary Club of Windsor Roseland is giving an award to Vets Cab driver Doumit Nassar, who helped save the life of a LaSalle man. The 2019 Vocational Service Award is for excelling in work, being a role model for others and exemplifying the Rotary motto of Service Above Self.
Aruna Koushik, the club’s assistant governor, nominated Nassar. She said he’s perfect for the award because he was paying attention not only to his own service but to people around him.
“How many of us take the time to do that?” Koushik said.
On Dec. 27, Dan Chemello, 77, asked the Vets Cab driver behind him at a stop sign for directions when he couldn’t find his way home to LaSalle. Nassar noticed Chemello return to his car but sit in the back seat instead of the driver’s seat. He offered to give him a ride home thinking the older gentleman had dementia.
But it appears Chemello was in the early stage of having a massive stroke and he and his wife say he wouldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for Nassar. He didn’t know Chemello was having a medical emergency and an ambulance was called when it became clear at his home that he was ill. Nassar had parked Chemello’s car, stayed while the ambulance was arriving and wouldn’t accept even cab fare to LaSalle. He said it was the human thing to do. Sometimes people talk about “the cab driver” as if he or she isn’t a person, Koushik said. “They work long hours sometimes and they deal with sometimes difficult challenging situation,” she said Monday. “This could have turned the wrong way but he chose to say ‘let me investigate’ and he saved somebody’s life. He’s a person who loves his job and through his job he’s helping others.”
The Rotary Club of Windsor Roseland will be honouring Nassar and giving out a number of its Vocational Service Awards on Jan. 29.