24-04-2025
Two years ago, Rochester first responders saved Jeff Zeiger's life. He wants to honor their life-saving work
Apr. 24—ROCHESTER — In October 2023, Rochester resident Jeff Zeiger suffered cardiac arrest while strolling along the bike path of Cascade Lake in northwest Rochester.
Zeiger was lucky. The vast majority of people die from such cardiac events when they occur outside a hospital setting. If not for a woman who was walking behind him and who began immediately to administer CPR and the work of firefighters whose station was not half a mile away, Zieger would not be with us today.
Zeiger's heart was shocked back to life.
And so, Zeiger feels grateful. He's not stopped feeling grateful. So much so that Zeiger wants a memorial bench installed near the spot where he almost died as a way of honoring the work of first responders.
The work of first responders is taken for granted, he said.
"I'm trying to bring visibility and gratitude to the first responders in our city and elsewhere to make people more aware of what they do," Zeiger said. "They run into freaking buildings that are on fire when you and I run the other way."
The bench Zeiger has in mind would be located on the south side of Cascade Lake, near the fishing pier. First responders are unsung heroes, he said. He would like them to be a little less unsung. It would join other memorial benches that dot the 2.4-mile loop.
Zeiger, a retired university professor, imagines the 5-inch-by-10-inch plaque inscribed with a simple statement of dedication to the work first responders do. The language would be general. It would not specifically mention that they saved Zeiger's life. The focus would be on first responders, not on him.
It would cost an estimated $3,200 to purchase and install a memorial bench. So far, $415 has been raised on a GoFundMe site .
Zeiger would love a dedication ceremony for the bench to be held on Oct. 28, a date that has special meaning for him. It was the day on which Rochester first responders saved his life. It is also, coincidentally enough, the day when National First Responders Day is celebrated.
"Isn't that crazy," Zeiger said.
