LYNN — When Jose Toro heard the cries for help for a woman who had overdosed and was lying unresponsive on Union Street last week, he immediately sprang into action.
After searching in vain for a pulse, Toro, 51, of Lynn, started to give the woman CPR, complete with chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Toro continued his efforts to revive the woman for several moments, until she finally started to breathe on her own again.
“Her color started coming back and we noticed she was breathing again. She had a good pulse, but she was still unconscious,” said Jeff Hurley, Toro’s co-worker who had called 911 when the two men were alerted to the woman’s predicament.
At that point, responding police and firefighters took over, who arrived about five minutes after Hurley, 62, of Lynnfield, made the call.
The choice the two men made to intervene and ultimately save the woman’s life in the early morning hours of Aug. 3 stood in stark contrast to the small crowd of people who had gathered passively around her.
Toro’s decision to administer CPR, and to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in particular, was a choice few would have made given the current coronavirus pandemic, which has hit Lynn especially hard.
But Toro was not only at risk from the virus that day.
The woman he revived is a well-known homeless addict in the area, which prompted several onlookers to warn him against trying to help her, as they said her habits could pose a risk for other types of infection, Hurley said.
Still, Toro, a recovering addict himself, said he did not hesitate when he saw the woman lying motionless on the ground.
“She was dying — she was almost dead,” said Toro. “I knew exactly what I had to do because I’ve done this before. I’ve saved other people’s lives.”
Toro said he has revived six other people — all overdose victims — with CPR in the past. He lives on Union Street and was in the area that morning because Hurley was picking him up for work.
“I think it was God’s will because we (were about) to go out and I was just there at the right time,” said Toro. “I didn’t think about the coronavirus at the moment. I was just thinking about the lady’s life. That was just the chance I took.”
Toro said he does not see himself as a hero because he thinks God made sure he was there to save the woman that day, but Hurley said his co-worker is being modest.
“Not many people would have done this,” said Hurley. “Approximately 19 people were just sitting there and not doing anything. If I’m a hero, Jose Toro is a superhero. What he did is above and beyond. What he did and what’s he done in the past (to revive others) is truly amazing.”
