Father And Son Team Save Man’s Life After CPR Training

A local father and son were being heralded as heroes on Tuesday after saving the life of their friend by performing CPR on him in West Yellowstone on Saturday.

The father and son, Rex and Blake Portmann, had just attended a CPR class two days before the incident.

Their friend, Tom Angell, needed CPR because he was having a heart attack.

Angell is an independent contractor and he used to run the Portmann’s family ranch, the Diamond P.

This year, the Portmanns took control of operations again, and were helping Angell move his equipment out of their barn, when all of the sudden, he collapsed.

Blake Portmann watched Angell walk into his family barn, and go down.

“I just thought he fainted, and he didn’t faint because we couldn’t feel a pulse or anything like that, so we just immediately started doing CPR on him,” Blake Portmann said.

Blake Portmann started doing chest compressions right away, and yelled for his dad, Rex Portmann.

“I saw what was happening, and then, all I know is, I was there. You know, I was here and there,” Rex Portmann said.

Blake and Rex Portmann and Rex’s son-in-law Charles traded off doing chest compressions for 20 minutes.

“And that was the longest 20 minutes I’ve ever waited in my life,” Blake Portmann said.

Just 48 hours earlier, Rex and Blake Portmann were learning to do chest compressions for the first time in a long time.

“The last time I was CPR certified was in 1988, maybe ’89?” Rex Portmann said.

The Portmanns’ teacher, Sharra Nelson, said she had just passed out a hands-only CPR card to her class last Thursday night, and both of the men remembered that card when they started working. She said this incident is proof of how important it is to become CPR certified.

“Instead of just standing around waiting for the EMS to show up, we want you to get down and start doing compressions, because just the compressions only can save a life,” Nelson said.

And in this case, it did.

“It was a simple class, it was three hours, but it was worth every second that I was there,” Blake Portmann said.

After EMS showed up, Angell was airlifted to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.

Angell is still in the hospital, but is now in stable condition, said Rex Portmann.

Both Portmanns work at Portneuf Medical Center. They were getting certified as part of their U.S. Forest Service permit for the guided horse tours they do at Diamond P Ranch in Yellowstone National Park.