The best save at Sunday’s Washington Nationals-San Francisco Giants game at San Francisco’s Oracle Park may have come from a player’s father. That would be Dr. Willie Ross, a pediatrician at Stanford Children’s Hospital and the father of MLB pitchers Joe (who plays for the Nationals) and Tyson (who plays for the Texas Rangers). Ross (seen at right above in the red hat) saw a woman choking on a hot dog near him and went to help, giving her the Heimlich maneuver and clearing her airway. As Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle writes, Ross told reporters later that the woman was able to stay for the rest of the game:
“I saw her having some difficulties and I saw her companion helping her out,” said Ross, an Oakland resident. “Then I just started watching, making sure that she was OK, and I went over just to chat, and she couldn’t talk, she needed help. She had three pieces of hot dog lodged in her airway.”
Ross said the woman recently had retired as a nurse after 53 years, and he chatted with her a bit to make sure she was OK. The woman was able to stay the remainder of the game.
“She was thankful, she was grateful, but she was a little embarrassed,” Ross said. “She’s a nurse so she’s used to giving aid, not receiving it.”
Here’s more on this from Mark W. Sanchez at KNBR:
Ross, a pediatrician at Stanford Hospital who trained in ER medicine, positioned himself behind the woman, who was standing. He performed the Heimlich Maneuver and got one piece out and checked to see if she was OK, and she still could not talk.
He did it again, and she couldn’t talk. He did it a third time.
“The third piece came out the size of my thumb — like the first knuckle — and then she said, ‘I can talk,’” said Ross, who wore a Nationals cap and got a big round of applause from the Giants fans surrounding him.
And here’s Ross talking with the woman afterwards, via KNBR’s Ryan McGeary:
Father of National’s pitcher Joe Ross, who happened to be a doctor, performed the Heimlich Maneuver on a choking Giants fan today and saved her life.
⁰⁰EMTs and other ballpark staff checked on her shortly after. ⁰⁰
This is them talking after the incident. pic.twitter.com/XxSgqlKKkY— Ryan McGeary (@RM_Geary) July 10, 2021
That’s a remarkable move from Ross. It’s fortunate that he was there and that he reacted in time to help.
[The San Francisco Chronicle; photo via KNBR]
