Rep. Raul Ruiz, a doctor, helps ill passenger on flight

NBCLatinoBy Suzanne Gamboa, NBCLatino

On an early morning flight back to his district, Democratic Rep. Raul Ruiz had to shift to his expertise as an emergency room doctor to help a fellow passenger on his flight.

Ruiz was en route to Palm Springs, Calif. heading through Texas when a male passenger passed out twice on board the flight, said spokesman Michael Ford.

Ruiz and a firefighter gave him medical attention and assistance. “It was severe enough they felt they had to reroute the plane,” Ford said.

Ruiz made sure he was stable but didn’t have enough information to discern what caused the passenger’s problems and also was trying not to give out to much information to respect the man’s privacy, Ford said.

Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Texas, tweeted about the emergency when it happened.

The flight was diverted to Raleigh, N.C. where the passenger was taken off to be attended to and congressman and the rest of the passengers continued on their way.

Gallego said in a tweet that the ill passenger was a diabetic.

Ford said Ruiz has had to deal with a medical emergency while flying once or twice before, but not one that required the rerouting of a plane.

Gallego will apparently be trying to travel more with Ruiz:

Gallego’s office confirmed the tweets were his.

Ruiz is the son of migrant farmworkers and grew up in Coachella, Calif. He was the first Hispanic to receive three degrees from Harvard, including from Harvard Medical School.

To go to college, he made a promise with local businessmen who helped him with his expenses that he would return to the community as a physician. He kept his contract with the businessemen and worked as an emergency room physician in the Coachella Valley at a nonprofit hospital.

This article was originally published in NBCLatino.

[Photo by eqcaliforniaflickr]

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