Oregon Gov. Performs CPR on Woman Dying From Heroin Overdose
Last night, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber performed CPR on a woman dying from an apparent heroin overdose, likely saving the woman's life.
As he was being driven to dinner in downtown Portland Monday night, Gov. Kitzhaber spotted "someone along the edge of the street who seemed to be attempting to resuscitate a woman" lying on the ground, according to an email sent to the Oregonian by Kitzhaber's communications director, Nkenge Harmon Johnson.
Kitzhaber, a former emergency room doctor, ordered his driver to pull over and told his security team to call 911; he then "jumped from the vehicle" to help the woman, who wasn't breathing, and performed CPR. More than two minutes later, paramedics arrived and used a defibrillator to revive the woman.
According to Lt. Rich Chatman of the Portland Fire Bureau, CPR has to be administered within six minutes of a person's heart stopping.
"It was pretty neat to see the governor back on and going back to work,"Alan Ferschweiler, one of the paramedics who responded to the call, told the Oregonian. "He was surprisingly calm, and you could see he went right back to the days where he was an emergency room doctor. To go and assist the governor and take over this patient from him is pretty surprising. It definitely took us off-guard."
The woman, whose name was not released, was taken to a local hospital and will likely survive.
