When his wife called him from the hair salon, Randy Nixon thought perhaps there had been a robbery or other trouble. Little did he know he was being summoned to help save a life.

Nixon received a Lifesaving Award from Georgia Electric Membership Corp. (Georgia EMC) during the state association's annual meeting recently in Savannah.

The 17-year Snapping Shoals EMC veteran dropped his wife and daughter off at a salon in Covington on Sept. 8, then went shopping across the street. He returned to the salon was waiting in their vehicle when his wife called. "I could tell there was something going on because she had a little panic in her voice," Nixon recalls. "She said to come now and to hurry."

Upon arrival in the salon, his wife pointed to a large man who appeared to be passed out in a chair. When Nixon gently moved him to the floor, "His face instantly turned a deep, dark plum color, " the crew leader says.

He immediately started CPR while awaiting emergency personnel, reviving him at least two times, only to have the man stop breathing again. Paramedics arrived about seven minutes later and took over lifesaving measures. Nixon later heard that the man had taken a narcotic for shoulder pain and had been revived with Narcan on the way to the hospital.

Thinking back on the incident, Nixon says his actions were "absolutely second nature," given the annual CPR training that Snapping Shoals EMC employees receive. "There was no hesitation, no doubt," Nixon says. "I saw a guy who needed help, and I did what I could to keep him alive."

Nixon is among eight employees from seven EMCs in Georgia to be recognized with a Lifesaving Award, which recognizes EMC employees whose quick thinking and actions are instrumental in safeguarding others from dangerous or potentially deadly situations.