A 40-year-old transplant patient is alive thanks thanks to the quick action of long time Douglas County Sheriff's deputy Russ Swanson
Swanson was on patrol near 168th and Fort streets Wednesday when a medical emergency was called in. A woman had been found on the floor of her home by a relative and she was not breathing.
That relative couldn't revive the woman. That's when Deputy Swanson arrived on the scene. "I took over and started chest compressions, two cycles of a minute 20 reps each," Swanson told 6 News. "We couldn't tell if she was breathing or not, it was very faint. Halfway through the CPR, she started to gurgle so I tried to clear her airway. If she is 100 percent out of the woods it makes me feel really good," Swanson says.
The woman is in the hospital but doing better. Swanson says deputies had just completed a CPR certification class just two weeks ago.