For Lennell Matthews, Feb. 14 was just like any other day. He woke up at 5 a.m., got ready for work and drove the 20-minute commute from Catonsville to The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He was parked in his usual spot between Monument and Caroline streets when he heard a crash. Matthews, who is part of the grounds facilities maintenance team, says the next few moments were a blur. As he watched an SUV flip over four times and finally land on its roof, he says his only thought was, “I need to help.”

In the year and a half he has worked at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Matthews says he’s never expe­rienced a day like that. “I always wondered how I’d react in that kind of situation,” he says. “I would’ve been less of a human if I didn’t try something. Even if I couldn’t get the person out, at least I know I tried.”

After all, Matthews says he’s responsible for ensur­ing the common areas and walkways around the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center, Smith Building and Ross Building are clean and safe for patients, employees and visitors.

Within seconds after the crash, Matthews says, a Johns Hopkins se­curity officer rushed to the scene and attempted to open the driver’s door. “The airbags were out, windows were smashed and I saw it was a lady inside and she was panicking when the security officer told her to ‘hold on’ after he couldn’t get the door open,” he says. “You see this kind of thing happen on TV shows and I kept thinking, what if the car catches on fire? That could’ve been one of my kids or my mother.”

Matthews’ instincts told him to jump into action. After a few unsuc­cessful attempts to open the driver door, he says he knelt down on the passenger side and was able to pry the door open. “I pulled her out, car­ried her to the curb, and she just held me until the ambulance got there,” he says.

Once things settled down, Mat­thews asked the Baltimore City police officer if he would pass along his contact information to the driver, hoping she would call him to say how she was doing. And she did. “I was so happy she called me, and she was so thankful,” he says. “She couldn’t stop saying thank you, thank you,” he says.

Matthews says he spent the rest of the day “walking on sunshine.” He says, “I had some scratches on my legs from kneeling in the glass, but I didn’t even care. An unexplainable feeling came over me, which made me feel good the rest of the day. Nothing bothered me.”

He says he hopes this story inspires others to lend a helping hand when the opportunity arises. “This world would be so much better if we all just tried to help one another,” he says. “I truly believe that.”