By EMS1 Staff
LA PORTE, Texas — A former Houston Fire Department paramedic is being credited with saving his neighbor’s life.
KHOU.com reported that the incident, which was caught on video, happened Sunday morning. Former paramedic Dean Zalesnik was taking a walk with his dog and said he was in the right place at the right time.
“If he didn’t need to go for a walk … I wouldn’t of never been there,” Zalesnik said.
Zalesnik and another neighbor were talking when he noticed something off about his neighbor Ted.
“We saw Ted walking this way and I waved to him and I really don’t remember him waving back to me and the next thing I know I just turned back around, and he was face down on the grass,” he said.
Zalesnik and the neighbor ran across the street to help.
“We turned him over on his back and I kind of just shook him, called his name. No response. Basically, he was breathing very shallow,” he said. “I would say I did a total of 60 compressions and Ted took a deep breath.”
Zalesnik said it’s the first time he’s had to jump into action as a bystander, according to the report.
“I was a little bit in disbelief. It was just kind of like a surreal moment in my life,” he said.
Ted, who will undergo open-heart surgery, is recovering.