THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 22, 1995 TAG: 9512210176
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Nancy Lewis
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
There was something so desperate in the shrill sounds coming from behind the high fence that I dropped the bag of groceries I had just taken from the car.
I can't remember these three years later what words the woman's voice made, if any, but in my worst nightmares I still hear the sound - like the bleating of a mortally wounded deer echoing in the woods. I'll never forget that sound and what happened next.
The jolt of adrenalin that surged through my body was like an electric shock, and I ran toward the sound instinctively.
Rounding the side of the solid wood fence that separated my driveway from the highway, I saw a young woman standing in the middle of the road. She held a limp baby at arm's length.
I paused, trying to comprehend the scene.
The woman clutched the baby quickly to her breast, then cradled it in her arms and rocked back and forth, all the while making that frantic keening sound.
Beside the woman was a toddler, a boy perhaps 3. He was whimpering and pulling at the nightgown she wore.
``What happened? How can I help?'' I asked, trying to sound calm as I approached the woman.
``My baby's dead,'' she croaked, thrusting the infant into my outstretched hands.
Now she remembered the toddler and scooped him up, following me to the other side of the road. We reached the front porch of her house, where I put the baby on a chair and began CPR.
For the next 20 minutes, I puffed breaths into the infant's nose and mouth and pushed gently and rhythmically on its chest. The baby was not breathing and had no pulse, but was still warm and pink. I'd had no formal CPR training, but recalled watching a film clip on what to do in such an emergency.
As I worked, the woman blurted out the story.
She'd gone to check on her baby in the crib and found her limp and lifeless. She had called 911 and had then run out into the road to wait for the ambulance. I would later learn that she had, in her panic, dialed the operator instead and failed to give an address. It took precious minutes to trace the call.
After about 10 minutes, I realized that my efforts were probably futile. As I raised my head between breaths, I could see the baby's nose and mouth turning blue. She did not begin breathing, nor was there a pulse.
Finally, the ambulance arrived and EMTs took over. Despite their valiant efforts and those at the hospital, the baby could not be revived. Doctors said the 3-month-old girl died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
I will always wonder whether I could have made a difference if I'd taken the CPR training class I thought I didn't have time for.
Maybe I would have timed the breaths and chest thrusts better or remembered to wrap the infant in a blanket. Maybe it would all have been second nature to me if I'd had the kind of hands-on practice that children and adults are receiving at city schools, with the help of Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters.
Teachers, parents, grandparents, baby sitters and children are learning how to perform emergency CPR on infants and children so that if called upon, they could fill that critical six-minute gap between accident and the arrival of trained professionals.
The time between when a victim stops breathing and the arrival of help is critical and CPR from a civilian can be crucial.
Different techniques are used for infants under 12 months and children from 1 to 8 years. Children older than 8 are considered adults for purposes of resuscitation.
All states have a Good Samaritan law, which protects people who attempt to help a victim in an emergency no matter the outcome, as long as the person performs to the level of his or her ability with good intention and does not abandon the victim.
Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death in children and adolescents from birth through age 19 in Virginia, and it is one of the situations where CPR training can make a difference.
I can only wonder if I'd had the training these kids are getting, if maybe that 3-month-old girl would have had a better chance. MEMO: The four-hour training offered through various city schools is sponsored
by Safe Kids Coalition of Hampton Roads, the Virginia Beach Fire
Department and the Virginia Beach Health Department. To find out more
about classes, call the Children's Health Line at 668-7500.
by CNB