A Southern Hills Nurse Who Saved a Fan's Life at a Golden Knights Game Just Won a National Award

by Ryan Rose

What Happened

The night happened in December 2025. Jeannie Cunningham went to T-Mobile Arena with her friend Linda Fucci to watch the Vegas Golden Knights play the Chicago Blackhawks. Between periods, Cunningham collapsed on the arena stairs. She had gone into cardiac arrest, which means her heart had stopped pumping blood the way it should.

Macis was at the same game, a few sections away. She ran over, checked Cunningham, and found no pulse. She started CPR right away and called for paramedics and an AED, the automated external defibrillator that arenas and many public buildings keep on the wall. By her own estimate, she kept doing chest compressions for nearly 10 minutes before the AED was hooked up. The machine shocked Cunningham twice, and she came back.

Macis told FOX5 that "basic CPR and AED saved her." That is a humble way to describe 10 minutes of hard, physical work on a stairway in a packed arena. But it is also the point she wants people to hear. She did not use any special hospital tools. She used her hands and a machine that anyone can learn to use.

Cunningham does not remember what happened. So how did the two women ever find each other? Fucci, the friend who was at the game, posted a thank-you in a Golden Knights fan group on Facebook. A woman in Macis's book club saw the post and recognized the story. She connected the dots, and the three women met. According to FOX5, they have become close friends since then. They have not been back to a Knights game together yet, but they plan to go.

On Sept. 29, 2026, HCA Healthcare announced its 2026 Awards of Distinction. The company's release lists her by her full name, Zuzana Macis, RN, of Southern Hills Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas, as the Compassionate Care winner. She received the award in Nashville, Tennessee. FOX5 reporter Lisa Sturgis shared the full story with Las Vegas viewers on Oct. 6.

Why It Matters to Las Vegas Residents

Most of us will never be in a medical emergency at a hockey game. But a lot of us will be near someone who collapses at some point in our lives. It could be at a ballgame, at the grocery store, at a kid's practice, or at home. This story matters because it shows exactly what works when it happens: someone starts CPR fast, and someone gets an AED on the person as soon as possible.

The American Heart Association says CPR, especially when it starts right after a cardiac arrest, can double or triple a person's chance of survival. It also says only about 4 in 10 people who have a cardiac arrest outside a hospital get CPR from a bystander before help arrives. That gap is the whole reason Macis keeps telling people to learn. In her words to FOX5, "Any minute, it can mean life or death."

Here is the part that should hit home for families. The Heart Association says about 70 percent of cardiac arrests outside a hospital happen at home. So the person you are most likely to do CPR on is not a stranger at T-Mobile Arena. It is a parent, a spouse, a grandparent, or a neighbor. That is a very different way to think about a two-hour class.

There is also a local pride angle here. Southern Hills Hospital sits at 9300 W. Sunset Road, right off the 215 near Durango, in the Spring Valley area of the southwest valley. A lot of families in Spring Valley, Rhodes Ranch, Mountains Edge, and the south end of Summerlin use that ER. Knowing that the charge nurse in that emergency room is the kind of person who jumps over seats to help a stranger on her night off is a comforting thing for the neighborhood.

It also helps to know what kind of CPR a bystander should do. The American Heart Association says Hands-Only CPR, which is just chest compressions with no rescue breaths, works as well as CPR with breaths in the first few minutes for an adult who suddenly collapses. That takes away one of the biggest reasons people freeze. You do not have to do mouth-to-mouth on a stranger to help. The Heart Association still recommends compressions plus breaths for children, infants, and people who collapse from drowning, an overdose, or a breathing problem, which is one more reason parents may want a full class.

Finally, Knights fans have always talked about the arena feeling like a community. This story backs that up. A fan group post on Facebook is what brought these women together. That is the Vegas Golden Knights fan base at its best.

Background and History

Macis is not new to Las Vegas or to Southern Hills. HCA's announcement says she has worked at the hospital since 2007, nearly 20 years, across several units. Today she is a charge nurse in the emergency department and a clinical nursing supervisor. HCA describes her as known for calm leadership, clinical skill, and close bonds with her patients. Anyone who has watched a busy ER on a Saturday night knows how much that calm matters.

HCA Healthcare runs hospitals across the country, including several in the Las Vegas valley. Each year it hands out its Awards of Distinction. The Frist Humanitarian Award dates back to 1971. The Excellence in Nursing Award was created in 2014 to honor the value of nursing practice. In 2026 the nursing award has three categories: Professional Mentoring, Compassionate Care, and a brand new leadership award named for Sammie Mosier, HCA's former chief nurse executive.

The Compassionate Care honor goes to a nurse who shows strong nursing knowledge and expert skills and uses both with compassion and integrity. Each Excellence in Nursing winner receives a $10,000 cash gift, and HCA donates another $10,000 to a charity the winner chooses. This year, the other two nursing winners came from Houston, Texas, and HCA's TriStar Division in Nashville. Macis was the only nurse from Nevada on the list.

It is also worth remembering how young the setting for this story is. T-Mobile Arena opened in 2016, and the Vegas Golden Knights played their first season there in 2017. In less than a decade the arena has become one of the busiest gathering places in the valley, packed with locals on game nights. When that many people are in one building, the odds that someone needs help on any given night go up, and so do the odds that a nurse, a doctor, or a firefighter is sitting a few rows away.

This is not the first time a Las Vegas nurse has won this exact category. In 2024, HCA gave the Compassionate Care award to Heather Hurlburt, RN, a pediatric emergency room nurse at Sunrise Children's Hospital. Two Las Vegas ER nurses winning the same national honor in three years says something good about the people working in our local emergency rooms.

What Happens Next

For Macis, Cunningham, and Fucci, the next step is a fun one. FOX5 reports the three women plan to go to a Golden Knights game together. The Knights' 2026-27 season is underway at T-Mobile Arena, so there are plenty of chances. If they post a photo from that game, it may be the best thing on Las Vegas social media this hockey season.

For the rest of us, the next step is simpler. The award is a reminder that one trained person can change the outcome. The American Heart Association and the American Red Cross both list CPR and AED classes you can search by ZIP code, and many local fire departments, hospitals, and community centers host them too. Some classes take only a few hours. Hands-only CPR, the version the Heart Association recommends for bystanders helping a teen or adult who suddenly collapses, can be learned in a few minutes from a short video.

It is also worth knowing that Nevada has a Good Samaritan law. NRS 41.500 covers people who give emergency care, perform CPR, or use a defibrillator at the scene of an emergency. Many people hesitate because they are scared of doing something wrong or getting in trouble. The law exists so that fear does not stop someone from helping. If you have legal questions about how it applies, the full text is on the Nevada Legislature's website.

There is also a bigger lesson for places where crowds gather. This rescue worked because two things lined up: a trained person started CPR within moments, and an AED was close enough to reach the stairs. Arenas, casinos, gyms, schools, churches, and large HOA clubhouses all host big groups of people every week. Stories like this one tend to push those places to check that their AEDs are charged, easy to find, and clearly marked. If you sit on an HOA board or run a business that hosts the public, this is a good week to ask where your AED is and when its pads were last replaced.

Ryan's Take

Southern Hills Hospital is the closest full emergency room for a big slice of the southwest valley, including Spring Valley, Rhodes Ranch, Mountains Edge, and southern Summerlin. When families compare neighborhoods, distance to the nearest ER is a fair thing to check, right alongside schools and commute times. A story like this puts a face on that answer. The people inside that building are our neighbors, and Macis has been showing up for this community since 2007.

The practical lesson for homeowners is simple. Since about 70 percent of these emergencies happen at home, the most useful step for any household is not buying a gadget. It is learning CPR, and then making sure first responders can find the house fast. House numbers should be big, clear, and lit at night. In a gated community, it helps to know how paramedics get through the gate. Those small things save minutes, and as Macis said, minutes are everything.

What You Can Do

Start with a class. Search the American Heart Association or American Red Cross class finders with your ZIP code, or ask your HOA, your church, your gym, or your kid's school if they host one. If a full class feels like too much right now, watch a hands-only CPR video tonight. The basic steps are easy to remember: call 911, then push hard and fast in the center of the chest until help or an AED arrives. Ten minutes of your time could matter more than anything else you do this month. If you already took a class years ago, a refresher is worth it. Guidelines change over time, and skills fade when you never use them.

Next, learn where the AEDs are in the places you go most. Look for the AED sign at your gym, your office, your church, your kid's school, and yes, at T-Mobile Arena. Modern AEDs talk you through every step out loud, so you do not need medical training to use one. You just need to know where it is and be willing to grab it.

Then make a simple plan at home. Teach everyone in the house, kids included, how to call 911 and say your full address out loud. Keep a list of medications and allergies for older family members somewhere easy to grab, like the fridge door. If someone in your home has a known heart condition, ask their doctor whether a home AED makes sense. And if you have a teenager, ask whether their school offers CPR training. A teen who knows CPR is one more trained person in every room they walk into, at home, at practice, and in the stands at a Knights game.

If you are a Knights season ticket holder or go to games often, take one extra step. The next time you are at T-Mobile Arena, look for the nearest AED sign to your seats and the closest staff member in a team or arena shirt. It takes ten seconds. In an emergency, knowing where to point people is a real help to whoever is doing compressions, because that person cannot leave to go look.

Last, if a nurse, doctor, paramedic, or stranger has ever helped you or someone you love, tell them. A thank-you note to the hospital, or a post like the one Linda Fucci shared in a Golden Knights fan group, can go further than you think. In this case, it turned a scary night into a lasting friendship and helped put a well-deserved spotlight on a Southern Hills nurse.