Man Saves Woman’s Life With CPR He Learned From An Episode Of ‘The Office’

Cross Scott of Tucson, Arizona, didn’t have formal CPR training. But he recalled what Michael Scott did in the hit sitcom.
Michael Scott (Steve Carell) practices CPR on a dummy in a 2009 episode of “The Office.”
Michael Scott (Steve Carell) practices CPR on a dummy in a 2009 episode of “The Office.”
Screenshot via video by Netflix US/Twitter

It seems that serial sitcom blunderer Michael Scott finally did something right.

A tire shop technician in Tucson, Arizona, named Cross Scott was test-driving a customer’s car on Jan. 11 when he noticed a white sedan on the side of the road, the Arizona Daily Star reports. The vehicle’s hazard lights were blinking, so Scott, 21, decided to pull over and investigate. Because the car was rolling slowly forward, he placed a rock in front of one tire before peering inside. There he saw an unconscious woman in the driver’s seat. Her lips were blue.

Scott used another rock to smash a window while two women who had also pulled over called 911.

He checked the unconscious woman’s pulse and didn’t feel anything, Scott told the Star. He knew he had to do something ― and fast. But he wasn’t quite sure what to do.

“I’ve never prepared myself for CPR in my life,” Scott told the outlet. “I had no idea what I was doing.”

That’s when something popped into his head — an episode of “The Office” in which Steve Carell’s character does chest compressions on a practice dummy to the beat of the Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive” during an in-office CPR training.

In the two-part episode from 2009, titled “Stress Relief,” the Dunder Mifflin regional manager has a comically difficult time with chest compressions. So the instructor suggests singing the disco hit and synching the compressions to the beat of the chorus. The idea is that by doing this, you’re pumping at the ideal 100 beats per minute.

With this in mind, and the driver’s seat lowered, Cross Scott leaned over the woman, got his hands in position and began singing the song out loud: “Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive.”

Maybe a minute later, the woman was breathing. Some 10 minutes after Scott first pulled over, paramedics showed up. Scott told the Star that one paramedic from the Tucson Fire Department told him that if he hadn’t intervened, the woman’s fate likely would have been different.

The woman, who was later identified simply as Carla, was rushed to the hospital. When Scott swung by after his shift to check on her, he found out that she had already been released.

The Tucson Fire Department declined to comment on the specific case but did emphasize the importance of CPR. HuffPost also reached out to Scott’s place of employment for comment but didn’t receive an immediate response.

Interestingly enough, “Stayin’ Alive” isn’t the only memorable song that can help people set the beat for emergency chest compressions. New York-Presbyterian Hospital actually created a Spotify playlist of other songs that also fit the bill for CPR, including “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga, “Crazy in Love” by Beyoncé and “Rumor Has It” by Adele.

You can check out the whole list (and maybe help save a life) here.

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