Oregon Police Officer Saves Man`s Life With CPR

March 01--The CPR skills that Medford police Officer Richard Renfro learned in the Boy Scouts helped him save the life of a man who suffered a heart attack while walking home from work last week.

Renfro was on patrol Feb. 16 near Hawthorne Park when he responded to a report of a man in possible cardiac arrest lying on the sidewalk along Spring Street in east Medford.

Renfro hit the gas and weaved through busy afternoon traffic to Spring Street, where he saw two people hunched over a man splayed on the sidewalk. The two were attempting to perform CPR.

"I could see right off that they weren't performing the CPR correctly," Renfro said.

Renfro told the pair to step back. He could see the man had turned purple and that there was no pulse.

"He was lifeless," Renfro said. "At that point you have such a small window to determine whether he would survive the heart attack or not."

The good Samaritans had been pushing lightly on the man's chest, which is not nearly enough force to push the blood through the man's heart, Renfro said.

The goal of CPR is to keep oxygenated blood moving to the body's vital organs. To do this in the event of a massive heart attack requires heavy, violent compressions delivered directly to the chest, Renfro said.

Medford police officers are taught to use a hands-only CPR technique. This means the officer performs the chest compressions without stopping to administer breaths to the victim's mouth.

"You've just got to keep that blood flowing through the heart," Renfro said.

"If you stop to do a breath, that means the blood has stopped flowing."

Renfro put all his force behind his compressions.

"As soon as I started, I could feel his breast bones popping under my hands," Renfro said. "You have to sometimes break the victim's ribs, but it's better to have broken ribs and live than die."

After several compressions, the man's color began to return to normal, Renfro said.

Soon after, Mercy Flights paramedics arrived and loaded the man in the back of an ambulance. On the way to the hospital, the paramedics gave the man a shock from a heart defibrillator to help restart his heart.

The man, who declined to be identified for this story, survived the heart attack and has since been released from the hospital.

Renfro said the 58-year-old man was walking home from his job at Providence Medford Medical Center.

"He got his exercise from his walk to and from work," Renfro said. "He nearly made it home when the heart attack hit."

Medford Fire-Rescue Chief Dave Bierwiler said his agency trains police in CPR techniques.

All Medford officers are trained in CPR and basic first-aid procedures, according to Chief Tim George.

Bierwiler said it is important for police to know CPR because they are sometimes the first to arrive on medical calls.

"They are always mobile on the road and can get there quickly," Bierwiler said. "And that first few minutes of CPR before paramedics arrive can be critical for the survival of a patient."

Renfro said he first learned CPR in the Boy Scouts as a kid. His mother, who is a nurse, was his instructor.

"I have used CPR numerous times throughout my career," Renfro said. "It doesn't work every time. In fact, most of the time the patient doesn't pull through. But there are times when it does help save someone's life."

Copyright 2012 - Mail Tribune, Medford, Ore.