RDN Transit driver Terry Keogh likely saved the life of a woman near a downtown Nanaimo bus stop Friday. He was flagged down by people and performed CPR on an unconscious woman. (submitted/RDN Transit)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

hero

Transit driver performs life-saving CPR on unconscious woman in downtown Nanaimo

Jan 22, 2021 | 4:20 PM

NANAIMO — A RDN transit driver is being praised for his heroic, life-saving actions.

Terry Keogh was driving his route through downtown Nanaimo when he was flagged down by several people near a bus stop on Victoria Cres. at Commercial St. at 6:50 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 22.

They were alerting him to an unconscious woman nearby who wasn’t breathing. Keogh parked his bus, called 911 and began performing CPR.

“We managed to get the lady to lay down, which opened the airwaves. For the longest time she wasn’t breathing, we started compressions,” Keogh told NanaimoNewsNOW.

Paramedics arrived and administered naloxone after Keogh’s efforts.

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“The naloxone kicked in and she spontaneously started to breathe again,” he said of the woman who’d been slumped over on a cardboard box only 15 minutes earlier.

“Her life could very easily have been gone if we hadn’t reacted in those few minutes, it’s a very short window of opportunity.”

Keogh has advanced first aid experience as a former emergency medical technician in Ireland and longtime scuba diving instructor.

He’s been an RDN transit operator for two years.

While it wasn’t an ordinary day behind the wheel, Keogh said he embraces the various challenges his job presents

“I love the interaction with the public and to engage with the community, it’s very enjoyable.”

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