It’s Dr. Mehmet Oz to the rescue!
The 60-year-old physician and TV star jumped into action after a man collapsed at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on March 1.
According to Port Authority Police Department spokeswoman Lenis Valens, it was about 11:07 p.m. when Officer Jeffrey Croissant was on patrol and witnessed a man fall to the floor in the baggage claim area of Terminal A. Per Valens, Croissant rushed over and found the man wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a pulse. So, the officer called for backup and began performing CPR.
It was around this time that Oz and his family were coming off of a flight. As The Dr. Oz Show host told TMZ, he was heading toward the carousel when his daughter yelled out, “Daddy! Daddy! Come quick.”
Oz and Croissant worked together to perform CPR and clear the man’s airways. Backup arrived minutes later. According to Valens, Officers Michael Bock, Matthew Vecchione and Daniel Olbrich administered oxygen and deployed a defibrillator on the man.
Valens stated that, after several more rounds of CPR, the man began to breathe on his own and was stabilized. The spokeswoman said the man, who was identified as a 60-year-old New Jersey resident, was then transported to a nearby hospital’s intensive care unit, where he is undergoing further evaluation.
Croissant told Valens he didn’t initially recognize Oz because “everyone wears masks” amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. But according to the spokeswoman, after Croissant made the connection, he thought, “What better help to have than a cardiac surgeon?”
After recounting the man’s emergency in a tweeted statement, Oz urged his followers to learn these skills, noting he and the officer were able to “save his life” because of them.
“As a physician and a human being, it’s our responsibility to jump in when there’s a medical emergency,” he tweeted. “Another critical reminder of how important it is to take the time to learn how to do CPR and use a defibrillator.”
