By EMS1 Staff
MODESTO, Calif. — A fire captain and the man he saved from a heroin overdose reunited at the rehab facility where the man is currently recovering.
FOX40 reported that Zachary Oehrke, 23, overdosed on heroin in a bathroom at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and was saved by Port of Seattle Fire Captain David Washington.
“I remember telling him that you need to get a support system, not ever thinking that I was ever going to see him again,” Capt. Washington said.
Weeks later, Oehrke and Capt. Washington reunited at New Hope Recovery Center after Washington’s chief asked if he wanted to meet with the man he saved.
“I just started bawling because it resonated in my life, like this could be my son,” Capt. Washington said. “It doesn’t matter what nationality we come from, it matters how we care for each other and that’s what hit me the hardest.”
Capt. Washington described the opportunity to reunite with Oehrke as the “chance of a lifetime.”
“It’s been something I’ll never forget,” he said.
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