According to FOX 5 New York: “A man who went into cardiac arrest at Newark Liberty International Airport was saved due to quick work by Port Authority Police Officers and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who just happened to be in the airport at the same time. It happened at approximately 11:07 p.m. Monday night in the baggage claim area of Terminal C. Oz’s daughter, Arabella, alerted him to the situation and he ran over.
A man had fallen and hit his head on the ground. Dr. Oz says a small pool of blood formed around the man’s head. “He was purple, like the color of an eggplant,” Oz said in an interview on Good Day New York. “And I couldn’t get a pulse so I realized he had suffered what we call sudden death.” Oz rolled over the man and noticed that he had a scar on his chest from heart surgery. He started giving chest compressions.”
Last night, a man collapsed near me and my family after we arrived @EWRairport. I performed CPR with the help of a Newark Port Authority police officer and cleared the man’s airway. Thankfully, the airport had a defibrillator nearby that we were able to use to save his life. https://t.co/OMlQWVI9KT
— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz) March 2, 2021
It appears the 60 year old man is doing remarkably well and Dr. Oz wants everyone to “at least know the principles of CPR because he says you could save the life of a loved one.”
Here’s more information on how you can perform CPR if you ever find yourself in a similar situation: https://t.co/wUChbo20Kv
— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz) March 2, 2021
You definitely want to read this post from The Dr. Oz Show website: Cardiac Arrest Bystanders Are Key to a Patient’s Survival — Here’s How to Make a Difference. It will inform you about the warning signs of cardiac arrest, when to use an AED and how to perform CPR.
Here’s some information about performing life-saving CPR:
Watch this easy-to-follow video to learn the basics of CPR. There are also specific guides for performing CPR on infants, children, and adults.
Dr. Oz recommends learning to associate CPR with the songs “Stayin’ Alive” or “Row Row Row Your Boat.” That’s about 100 to 120 pumps-per-minute, which translates to every beat of each song. He says you don’t need to do the mouth-to-mouth portion of CPR. He says it’s not medically necessary to keep someone alive.
Dr. Oz says these are the most important steps:
- Point to someone and direct them to call 9-1-1. Point to another and tell them to get an AED if it’s available.
- Place one hand over the person’s breast bone and your other hand on top of that one. Lean over the body to use your entire body weight to pump, and push down about two inches into the chest and then repeat. If you break someone’s ribs in the process, says Dr. Oz, then so be it. It’s better to keep someone alive now and worry about any broken bones later.
I set a reminder email every week to watch videos on how to save an infant and toddler from choking and I will add this to the mix because even though I watch the videos every week, it really refreshes my memory in the event that, God forbid, anything scary like this should happen. I just want to be ready. I think it’s similar to the message that flight attendants give passengers: Watch the safety video no matter how many times you fly. First of all, the aircraft could be different but mostly, this is the kind of information you need to have hammered into your brain on a regular basis so that you know what to do in case of an emergency. Sometimes your mind can go blank when you panic so you want to really know and understand this information.
On a side note, on our first trip to New York City with our son Jack, he got his first high fever. Of course, being new parents ,my wife and I were panicked and had forgotten to pack Children’s Tylenol. Fortunately, New York City has pharmacies on almost every block so as I was running down the street at around 10pm, who did I see walking by me? Dr. Oz. I came so close to asking him to come check on my son but I didn’t have the nerve. About a month later, I ended up going to a small event with him and he was really nice.
If the event had been two months before, I probably would’ve asked him. Let’s hope I never need to ask him again.
