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Dr. Oz springs into physician mode to help save man who collapsed at airport

The celebrity doctor was at Newark's airport and rushed over to help after a man collapsed with no pulse, police said.
Image: Dr Mehmet Oz
Dr. Mehmet Oz walks the runway at The Blue Jacket Fashion Show during NYFW at Pier 59 Studios in New York on Feb. 5, 2020.Rob Kim / Getty Images for The Blue Jacket Fashion Show file

Dr. Oz demonstrated he's not just a TV doctor when he rushed to help save a man who had collapsed at a New York City-area airport Monday night.

Dr. Mehmet Oz and police performed CPR on a 60-year-old man at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey just after 11 p.m., the Port Authority Police Department said.

The man, who collapsed near a baggage claim, did not have a pulse and wasn't breathing, police said. Port Authority Officer Jeffrey Croissant went to help, called for backup and started CPR. Around the same time, Oz rushed over and worked with the officer to perform the life-saving procedure, police said in a statement to NBC New York.

"I performed CPR with the help of a Newark Port Authority police officer and cleared the man's airway," Oz tweeted. "Thankfully, the airport had a defibrillator nearby that we were able to use to save his life."

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey tweeted its thanks to Oz, as well as Croissant and three other officers involved.

Those three officers arrived after Croissant had called for backup, police told NBC New York in the statement. They gave the man oxygen and used the defibrillator, police said.

The man began breathing on his own and was stabilized before he taken to a hospital for further evaluation, police said.

Oz, the host of the daytime show "The Dr. Oz Show," tweeted that Monday night's incident was "another critical reminder of how important it is to take the time to learn how to do CPR and use a defibrillator."

CPR, which stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, can double or triple someone's chances of survival after a cardiac arrest, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

People are told to first call 911, but the technique involves pushing down on someone's chest to keep blood pumping.