Gov. John Kitzhaber may have helped save a woman’s life Monday, performing CPR on her until paramedics arrived, his chief spokeswoman confirmed.

The governor was driving to dinner shortly after 5 p.m. near Southwest Main and 13th Avenue when he saw “someone along the edge of the street who seemed to be attempting to resuscitate a woman” lying on the ground, Nkenge Harmon Johnson said in an email to The Oregonian.

The governor ordered his driver to stop, Harmon Johnson said, then "jumped out of the vehicle" and ran to the woman's aid to begin giving CPR. He directed one of his state police security guards to call paramedics, who took over from Kitzhaber when they arrived.

The incident, first reported by KGW-TV, is one of several in which Kitzhaber -- a former emergency room doctor -- has administered emergency first aid.

Kitzhaber, a Democrat, is in his third term as governor and is running for re-election to what would be a historic fourth term.

The woman, who was not identified, was taken to OHSU Hospital and is expected to survive, said Lt. Rich Chatman of the Portland Fire Bureau.

Gov. John Kitzhaber, M.D. is shown here in a file photo from September 2012 as he entertained himself on the set of an apothecary shop during the celebration of the start of filming of season 2 of the TV series Grimm.

Within two and a half minutes of the call from Kitzhaber's security detail, a firetruck arrived and administered drugs and used a defibrillator to shock the woman and restart her heartbeat, Chatman said. An ambulance arrived 10 to 11 minutes later.

According to Chatman, CPR has to be administered within 6 minutes after a person loses a heartbeat. He called this case rare.

Alan Ferschweiler, a paramedic who responded to the call told The Oregonian that the woman “had possibly overdosed” when the governor found her.

"It was pretty neat to see the governor back on and going back to work,” said Ferschweiler, who is president of the Portland Firefighters Association. “He was surprisingly calm, and you could see he went right back to the days where he was an emergency room doctor. To go and assist the governor and take over this patient from him is pretty surprising. It definitely took us off-guard."

Four years ago, during a gubernatorial primary debate with Bill Bradbury, Kitzhaber ran from the podium to help a man who was having a seizure. He also has performed emergency aid a handful of times at the state Capitol.

In 2005, Kitzhaber chased down an intruder at his Portland office, trapping him in a revolving door at a nearby bank.

-- Harry Esteve, Yuxing Zheng and Kasia Hall