Retired firefighter meets 911 call-taker who helped friend save his life with CPR

Chicago fire communications operator Amanda Garr and retired Chicago firefighter George Ma’Ayteh met for the first time Wednesday morning, months after Garr instructed 911 caller Paula Anast how to save Ma’Ayteh’s life through CPR.

By Mohammad Samra

George Ma’Ayteh, a retired Chicago Fire Department lieutenant with Engine 109, hugs fire communications operator Amanda Garr. — George Ma’Ayteh, a retired Chicago Fire Department lieutenant with Engine 109, hugs fire communications operator Amanda Garr during a Wednesday news conference at the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. Garr was the 911 operator who told Paula Anast, Ma’Ayteh’s friend, how to do chest compressions on the phone when Ma’Ayteh suffered a cardiac event.

Amanda Garr often doesn’t know the outcome of the 911 calls she takes from frantic Chicagoans, but on Wednesday morning she met George Ma’Ayteh — a retired firefighter whose life she helped save.

Last fall, Garr, a city fire communications operator, accepted a call about an adult male who was unconscious and “wasn’t breathing normally.”

Garr quickly notified a dispatcher to send an ambulance before calmly instructing the caller how to perform CPR on Ma’Ayteh.

“God’s got a plan for you,” Garr told Ma’Ayteh on Wednesday, shortly after they met for the first time.

Ma’Ayteh worked as a Chicago firefighter for 30 years and saw firsthand the difference CPR makes when trying to save a life.

“I can’t tell you how many resuscitations [where] the outcome is never well,” Ma’Ayteh told reporters. “God was working through their hands.”

Fire communications operator Amanda Garr and George Ma’Ayteh, a retired Chicago Fire Department lieutenant, shake hands during a news conference on Wednesday. — Fire communications operator Amanda Garr and George Ma’Ayteh, a retired Chicago Fire Department lieutenant, meet for the first time during a news conference Wednesday.

Garr, 29, credits her training and love for the job with the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, when speaking about how she helped save Ma’Ayteh’s life.

“I just love helping people,” she told reporters at the OEMC’s Near West Side office. “I know that when people call 911, they’re not calling because they’re having a good day. My hope is to be able to be there and help make that a little bit easier.”

On Oct. 21, 2023, when Garr took the call, she walked Paula Anast, a lifelong friend of Ma’Ayteh, through CPR.

“I truly wouldn’t have had any idea what to do,” Anast said. “This is what she does as a job, and her confidence calmed me.”

Garr credited Anast’s ability to follow instructions, highlighting how they worked together to help save Ma’Ayteh’s life.

“Giving those instructions over the phone, it’s second nature to me at this point. It’s really nice though to have people that actually listen and can do a really great job and work with me with this team effort,” she said.

George Ma’Ayteh, a retired Chicago Fire Department lieutenant with Engine 109 stands with his friend Paula Anast and places his hand on her shoulder. — George Ma’Ayteh, a retired Chicago Fire Department lieutenant, stands Wednesday with his friend Paula Anast, who helped save his life last fall, during a news conference at the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. Fire communications operator Amanda Garr was the 911 operator who walked Anast through giving Ma’Ayteh CPR over the phone when he suffered cardiac arrest.

In a sense, Garr was born to the job. Her family has served Chicagoans for four generations. Her great-grandfather, grandfather, father and uncles worked with the fire department as firefighters, paramedics or through the OEMC.

Coincidentally, Ma’Ayteh served under Garr’s father, 14th Battalion Chief Barry Garr — who attended Wednesday’s event.

“Pride, that’s what I feel, both for her job and what she’s done for the community,” the battalion chief said about his daughter’s efforts. “This is just one of many accolades I see in her future.”

Amanda Garr will receive a commendation from the OEMC at an awards ceremony Thursday for “her outstanding lifesaving CPR efforts and a job well done.”

George Ma’Ayteh, a retired Chicago Fire Department lieutenant with Engine 109, shakes hands with Chief Barry Garr of the 14th Battalion, during a news conference Wednesday.

Her father stressed the importance of intervention during medical emergencies and the difference it can make.

“People don’t have to be afraid to get involved and assist others now,” Battalion Chief Barry Garr said. "[Ma’Ayteh] was said to possibly have had brain damage due to the fact the blood was not circulating, but because of [Garr’s and Anast’s] actions, the blood was able to circulate ... and he stands before us with no diminishing capacities whatsoever.”

Doctors told Ma’Ayteh he suffered cardiac arrest, and he had a pacemaker implanted afterward. He’s in rehabilitation months after his health scare, but said he’s “doing good.”

“God was resting on your shoulders,” he told Amanda Garr. “Someone told me heaven was closed.”