His car zigzagged across the road. She knew something was wrong.

Joyce Park was on her way home from a family dinner at a Closter restaurant one recent Saturday night in July when a vehicle two cars ahead of hers began zigzagging across Harrington Avenue.

Park watched as the car swerved off the right side of the road and struck a utility pole.

Park, an ICU nurse at Hackensack University Medical Center, told her husband to stop their car and rushed to the wrecked vehicle. “I just knew that something was wrong, so I ran over there,” she said.

Park found the driver, an 80-year-old Harrington Park man, unconscious. He had suffered a cardiac event and was going into seizure, according to Closter police.

Park’s husband helped get the victim out of the car and onto the ground, and she found the man had no pulse. Meanwhile, the victim’s wife had left the vehicle and was frantically yelling for help.

The 35-year-old nurse’s training kicked in, as she methodically began performing CPR on the victim. Her chest compressions were successful and she was able to resuscitate him after about 30 seconds.

“Then he came back to life,” she said. “He woke up screaming, ‘I’m OK, I’m OK. ’” She continued to check his vital signs as the police arrived.

While waiting for the paramedics, Park learned the man had just celebrated his 80th birthday at a Closter restaurant — not far from where she and her family had dined that evening.

The man was conscious, alert and well as he and his 74-year-old wife were taken by ambulance to Englewood hospital, according to Closter Police Capt. Vincent Aiello.

Park, a Harrington Park resident, has resuscitated patients multiple times during her seven years as a nurse, but never in an everyday situation like the one she encountered on July 22.

“The setting was different but this is what we do, saving people’s lives at the hospital,” Park said.

Mark Sparta, president of Hackensack University Medical Center, said he wasn’t surprised Park jumped into action at the scene.

“That life-saving procedure might not have occurred if Joyce had not been in the right place at the right time,” Sparta said. “We are grateful for all Joyce does for our community — inside and outside our hospital walls.”

Closter police commended Park’s actions and encouraged others to get CPR certified by contacting their local ambulance corps or visiting cpr.heart.org/en/course-catalog-search to find a course nearby.

Robert Brum is a freelance journalist who writes about the Hudson Valley. Visit robertbrum.com to read his work.