Quick Response by Hill Exchange Associates Saves Man’s Life

HIll Exchange associate Raicha Abdou-Yarde (left) and mini-mall manager Brigitte White kept a distressed customer calm until ambulances arrived to take him to a hospital.

Brigitte White’s shift at the Hill Air Force Base Exchange had barely started the evening of July 28 before she realized something was wrong.

By the time her shift ended, White and other associates had saved a customer’s life—a critical example of putting the Exchange’s core value of courage to use good judgment in action.

A shopper alerted a cashier that someone had nearly crashed a car into the Express. White, a shift manager at the Hill mini-mall, and associate Raicha Abdou-Yarde kept the distressed customer calm until ambulances arrived to take him to the hospital.

Base security arrived quickly, along with military and civilian ambulances. It took first responders 45 minutes to get the man into an ambulance, White said.

Later that evening, law enforcement personnel called White and told her, “You saved this man’s life.”

“It was invigorating,” said White, who has worked for the Exchange for about 25 years. “I was so proud of Raicha her quick actions, because who knows what could have happened if he had left and gotten on the highway?”

The actions of the Hill associates earned high praise.

“They just did what comes naturally and demonstrated the values of the Exchange by having the courage to take quick action,” said Melanie White, general manager of the Utah Consolidated Exchange. “Brigitte is like that. She takes people under her wing. It’s heartening to see Raicha, who’s been with us about a year, learn from her.”

Later that night, the man’s wife drove up and thanked the associates.

“She was so emotional and teary-eyed,” Brigitte White said. “It was heartwarming to know he was going to be all right.”