Con Ed employee honored for saving customer’s life

More than two months after he helped save the life of an elderly woman, a 15-year veteran of Con Edison received a hero’s recognition at a ceremony at the utility giant’s Learning Center in Long Island City.
Con Ed officials honored Johnny Jara, who was reading meters on his usual Forest Hills route on October 22, 2007, when an elderly customer fainted and began losing consciousness.
“When I saw her, it looked like she was going to sleep… she looked like she was drugged,” said Jara, who immediately called 9-1-1 and waited with the customer until Fire Department and Emergency Medical Service officials arrived. Officials took the elderly woman to the hospital, and she recovered from the episode.
Jara was very modest when asked to recount his experience, and was even surprised at the amount of praise he had received for his actions.
“As a matter of fact, I didn’t expect this,” Jara said after he received the honor from Con Ed officials at a ceremony on Friday, January 4.
Although Jara was very humble, Customer Operations Supervisor Antonio Quirindongo, Fire Battalion Chief Michael Dilena and Con Edison Senior Vice President for Customer Operations Marilyn Caselli had no problem praising Jara.
“If it weren’t for Johnny, the woman might not be with us today,” Caselli told the members at the ceremony. “Thank you for exhibiting that we are invested in making this city a better place.”
Jara, who was born in Ecuador and began working at Con Ed in 1992 as a customer field representative, said that his family is very proud of his actions.
“They call me hero,” he said.