Survivor meets Eugene Police officers who helped with life-saving CPR and AED

On the afternoon of January 16, Eugene resident Joan Stuart collapsed to the floor of her friend’s home while visiting.

Officer Shane Orsborn and Sergeant Sean Dillon of the Eugene Police Department were both nearby when they heard the dispatch from Central Lane 911 and rushed to the home.

They arrived minutes later with one of the police department’s Automated External Defibrillators. They took over for Stuart’s friend, Kathleen Bauder, who was doing CPR, and activated the AED, which advised a shock that it delivered to the patient.

Orsborn and Dillon then resumed CPR, and the equipment activated a total of two more times prior to medic arrival a few minutes later.

The AED delivered one more shock before Eugene Springfield Fire arrived to take over care and transport the patient to the hospital for further treatment. Stuart is recovering and asked for a meeting with the officer and sergeant, which took place Feb. 25 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend during the monthly HEARTsafe Eugene Springfield Sudden Cardiac Arrest Survivor/Co-Survivor/Bereaved Meeting.

"Although police officers are trained in CPR and AED operation, this incident provides an opportunity to remind people anyone can do CPR," Eugene PD said. "Even bystanders without prior training can perform CPR and use an AED. According to HEARTsafe, if someone has not responded to a tap and shout and is not breathing normally, you only need to push hard/fast in the center of the chest, turn the AED on and follow prompts. It is better to try than do nothing."

Each year more than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur in communities across the United States, with typical survival rates of less than 10 percent, the department stated. And, according to HEARTsafe, 10 percent of a patient’s brain is permanently lost every minute until CPR is started or an AED is in use.

"How do you know if someone near you is experiencing a cardiac event that you can help with? Pulsepoint is a crowd sourcing app that will alert you if CPR is needed in a public place in your immediate area," EPD explained. "If you are willing to help, you can download the Pulsepoint App."

In the Eugene area, 911 calls for unresponsive persons sent PulsePoint alerts 829 times in 2024.

"The majority of calls were made from private residences, highlighting the need to recognize and act quickly by performing at least hands-only CPR. The only people nearby to do CPR will be YOU until EPD or EMS can get there and those minutes matter. They can save brain loss," EPD said.

"We are all working together as a HEARTsafe community to improve this survival rate and we need the public to perform CPR."