‘By the time I was on the freeway, it was too late to get off’; RN, others rush to assist, perform lifesaving measures in middle of northbound lanes

Contractor Ted Schatz was pulling a load of concrete down the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 just before 1 p.m. Thursday when he realized something was gravely wrong.

Schatz was suffering from a “widowmaker” heart attack, which occurs when the main artery supplying blood to the left ventricle of the heart becomes completely blocked, and he had no idea he’d soon be lying in the middle of the freeway.

Schatz, who lives in Central Point, was working on rebuilding a Phoenix mobile home park destroyed during the Almeda Fire. With the load of damaged concrete in tow, he began feeling unwell as soon as he pulled his pickup truck onto the Exit 24 on-ramp.

“By the time I was on the freeway, it was too late to get off. I couldn’t really pull over, so I just went as far as I could … trying to keep it going,” Schatz, 63, said from a hospital bed Friday at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford.

“I guess I must have started hitting my brakes, slowing down to a roll.”

Behind Schatz, Talent resident and RN Michelle MacGregor noticed brake lights flashing and semi traffic slowing to a stop. MacGregor, owner of senior care agency Advanced Care Life Services, was headed to work hours later than her usual 9 a.m.

“I thought to myself, ‘Oh dear, I think we have someone who was hit or there’s a hazard in the road. I slowed down and put my hand out the window, flagging people to slow down,” MacGregor recalled Friday.

“His truck was stopped and angled into the other lane, kind of rolling. … I have a big ol’ SUV so I thought, ‘You know what, I’m gonna block the traffic and see what I can do.’ So I pulled into both lanes cross-wise and I blocked I-5.”

MacGregor and two men who stopped to help tried Schatz’s driver door, which was locked, then accessed the vehicle cab through the passenger side.

“He was clearly unresponsive. The other gentlemen who stopped reached through and turned the car off and unlocked the driver side,” MacGregor said.

“I could tell right away he was agonally breathing and had turned pale grey. … I yelled to the other gentlemen to help me get him out. I grabbed his legs and pulled him out and dropped him right into the middle of I-5 and started CPR.”

Over the next seven minutes, MacGregor said a series of events unfolded that undoubtedly saved Schatz’s life.

MacGregor credited the number of good Samaritans who stopped to help, which included Asante nurse practitioner Kelly Dale, an unidentified doctor, a critical care unit nurse and caregiver Melissa Mowery. 

Several who stopped to help had trauma bags with life-saving equipment in their personal vehicles.

“He was very, very lucky. We had a doctor, two nurse practitioners and an RN. It was like his own trauma team,” she said.

In another instance of perfect timing, Jackson County Fire District 5 Division Chief Aaron Bustard was nearby and arrived at the crucial five-minute mark to administer a shock from the defibrillator he keeps in his rig.

“There were three of them working on him. They had him in the middle of the freeway, in the fast lane. It was pretty wild,” Bustard told the Rogue Valley Times.

While lifesaving efforts along the freeway are not uncommon, Bustard said Thursday’s rescue was unusual in that traffic came to a stop and full resuscitation occurred on scene.

“It’s pretty rare to get resuscitation. He was talking to us before he was transported. They did a good job, and it was such a great outcome,” Bustard said.

“This was a good reminder for the public to get out there and learn hands-only CPR and to not be afraid to jump in to help.”

While MacGregor planned to meet Schatz’s brother, Mark Schatz, on Friday – whom she found when he posted to social media about his brother’s rescue — she was surprised at the chance to meet her interstate patient.

MacGregor was directed to a hospital room filled with a smiling Ted Schatz and a grateful family.

Schatz teared up as he learned of the rescue efforts that transpired on Thursday.

“If I had been anywhere else, like in the woods hunting elk, I wouldn’t be here right now,” he told MacGregor.

Schatz said doctors found additional blockages, which they plan to address. MacGregor said the incident underscores the importance of CPR and need for first responders to carry defibrillators. Officers who responded to the scene did not have defibrillators in their vehicles, she said.

Schatz’s sister, Tammy Schatz, offered a tearful thanks to MacGregor. The siblings’ 85-year-old mother – whose birthday was Saturday – had been hospitalized, and family members were at the hospital when Ted Schatz arrived by ambulance.

“You made the difference by being there. He wouldn’t be alive if not for what you did,” she told MacGregor.

“I was going back to tell my mom what happened, and I cried in the elevator, all the way down, because I knew I had to go tell my mom. … We’re just so grateful he’s still here.”

MacGregor, who sprained her wrist performing CPR, told Schatz, “You had your own trauma team on I-5. … Literally, you were on the yellow line.”

She told Schatz to “live each day like there’s no tomorrow.”

“You fought so hard to stay here with us,” she told him.

“I remember telling you that you needed to stay with us. I wasn’t letting you go. I told you, ‘Not today, Ted. Not today.’”

How you can help

MacGregor said Monday that her company, after Schatz’s rescue, planned to purchase defibrillators for company vehicles and fundraise to purchase units for local law enforcement vehicles. Additional info will be posted to her company social media page.

Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 458-488-2029 or bpollock@rv-times.com. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal.