Umpire who saved woman with CPR: ‘Instinct took over’

Jim Joyce made right call to save ballpark worker who suffered cardiac arrest

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>> this week another call made by jim joyce is getting attention, one of life and death . when joyce showed up for work monday, he saw jayne powers, a longtime diamondbacks employee collapse. he quickly jumped into action and began performing cpr until an ambulance took her to the hospital. joyce was honored for his actions wednesday night. he's with us along with jayne powers. good morning to both of you.

>> good morning, matt.

>> good morning.

>> jayne , how do you feel? i know you were released from the hospital, i believe, just a day or so ago. how are you doing?

>> i'm a little sore but i'm glad i'm sitting here talk you to you.

>> i can imagine. you went to work, told some friends at work you weren't feeling too well. do you remember what happened next?

>> i remember telling my friend, it was during our preshift meeting before we were going out to the stadium. i told her, i said i wasn't feeling well. i said if i pass out -- that's all i remember. i remember my friend saying, does anybody know cpr . does anybody know cpr . i had a look of stress on my face, obviously, because i was hearing everything but nobody was responding. and then jim was walking down the tunnel right where i was, and all of a sudden he came out of nowhere and he said, i know cpr and he took over from there.

>> jim , had you ever performed cpr in an emergency situation before?

>> just one time, matt, almost 30 years ago.

>> did it kick in as instinct. i know you learned it as a lifeguard when you were 16. did it just kick in?

>> yes, it did. it was nothing more than in steenextinct -- instinct. i knew jayne was in trouble. when i checked her vitals, there was no pulse. i knew she was in a lot of trouble at that particular time. literally it was instinct that took over.

>> just like we hear all the time, you did cpr to the song staying alive.

>> i said it in my head. i don't know if i was saying it out live. i know it was in my head. that's the new cpr , that's the rhythm you do the chest compression to.

>> you were rushed to the hospital. do you have any idea how long you did cpr , by the way?

>> we kind of figured it was probably somewhere between four and five, maybe six minutes.

>> jayne you got rushed to the hospital. they im planted a pacemaker. was this a heart attack ? was this a seizure? what have they told you?

>> no. i went into cardiac arrest . i wasn't really a seizure. it was an erratic heartbeat that was malfunctioning in my heart, which caused me to go into cardiac arrest .

>> jim , i know you had the chance to go to the hospital and visit with jayne . what was that like for you?

>> i think it was pretty emotional for all of us involved. my wife kay was with me and jayne 's brother john was there. i said a couple words and then the emotions just took over. i think it was maybe 30 seconds of downtime after that, because we all had to take a couple deep breaths and just catch ourselves.

>> jayne , we are so happy you're okay. we're happy jim was walking down that hallway. it's another example. umpires are often the unsung heroes of major league baseball and now for a completely different reason. jim , it's good to have you in the headlines for all the right reasons.

>> thank you, matt. there's also one thing i like to convey to everybody out there, cpr can be learned by anybody and it only takes one time. even if you never use it again but that one time, it might be the most important time in somebody's life.

>> absolutely well said. jim , thank you so much. jayne , continued recovery to you.

Show transcript

By Eun Kyung Kim

TODAY contributor

updated 8/24/2012 9:38:47 AM ET

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A veteran umpire widely known for a botched call that cost a major league pitcher a perfect game is now getting attention for making the right call — one that saved the life of a ballpark worker — and used it Friday to call attention to the importance of knowing CPR.

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Jim Joyce performed CPR just minutes after Janie Powers, a longtime Arizona Diamondbacks worker, suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed before her shift earlier this week at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Story: 'I knew what to do': Teen uses CPR to save stranger

Speaking to TODAY’s Matt Lauer Friday from Phoenix, Powers told Matt Lauer she remembers telling a friend she didn’t feel well.

“I said, ‘So if I pass out,’ and that’s all I remember,” she told Lauer. She recalls people around her calling for help, but nobody responding.

“And then Jim was walking down the tunnel, right where I was, and all of a sudden he came out of nowhere, and he said, ‘I know CPR,’ and he took over from there,” said Powers, who was released from the hospital Thursday after getting a pacemaker installed.

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Joyce learned CPR as a lifeguard in his youth, and used it once before about 30 years ago, but he said he had no problem remembering what to do when he saw Powers crumpled on the ground.

Speaking to Lauer from Chicago during a joint interview with Powers, he said: “It was nothing more than instinct. I knew that Janie was in trouble. When I checked her vitals, she wasn’t breathing, and there was no pulse, and I knew she was in a lot of trouble at that particular time. And literally, it was just instinct that took over.”

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Joyce and his wife later visited Powers in the hospital to check on her progress.

“I said a couple of words and then the emotions just took over,” he said. “I think it was maybe 30 seconds of down time after that because we had to just take a couple of deep breaths and just catch ourselves.”

Video: Baseball ump who saved woman speaks out (on this page)

Joyce last drew national attention two years ago for a call that cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game. Joyce admitted blowing the call the next day, and Galarraga accepted his apology with a handshake.

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Joyce took advantage of his newest round of fame to draw attention to the importance of learning CPR.

“CPR can be learned by everybody,” he said. “It only takes one time. Even if you never use it again but that one time, it might be the most important time in somebody’s life.”