Dr. Oz demonstrated that he is not just a TV doctor when he ran to help save a man who passed out at a New York City airport on Monday night.
Dr. Mehmet Oz and the police performed CPR on a 60-year-old man at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, shortly after 11:00 pm, said the Port Authority Police Department.
The man, who passed out near a baggage claim, had no pulse and was not breathing, police said. Port authority officer Jeffrey Croissant went to help, asked for backup and started CPR. At the same time, Oz ran and worked with the police to carry out the rescue procedure, the police said in a statement to NBC in New York.
“I performed CPR with the help of a Newark Port Authority officer and cleared the man’s airways,” Oz tweeted. “Fortunately, the airport had a defibrillator nearby that we were able to use to save his life.”
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey tweeted its thanks to Oz, as well as to Croissant and three other officers involved.
These three policemen arrived after Croissant asked for reinforcements, the police told NBC New York in the statement. They gave the man oxygen and used the defibrillator, police said.
The man started breathing on his own and stabilized before being taken to a hospital for further evaluation, police said.
Oz, the host of the daytime show “The Dr. Oz Show”, tweeted that Monday night incident was “another critical reminder of how important it is to learn how to do CPR and use a defibrillator”.
CPR, which means cardiopulmonary resuscitation, can double or triple someone’s chances of survival after cardiac arrest, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
People are told to call 911 first, but the technique involves pushing someone’s chest to keep the blood flowing.
