Metro Mom Warns Of Water Emergencies After Son Nearly Drowns

EMSA reports they've responded to 13 drowning calls so far this year -- one of them was fatal. But for another family, knowing pediatric CPR made the difference between life and death.

Trudy Davis put her 2-year-old son Malachi into a new swim shirt last week, his first without floaties. He didn't realize that when he ran outside to the pool alone.

A few minutes later, Davis noticed he was missing and found him floating – face down.

“His face was like a purplish blue. His lips were like blueish white. I thought I had already lost him,” said Davis.

Her training from a past job at a daycare kicked in, and she started performing CPR.

EMSA paramedics said her actions likely saved her son’s life.

“You’re sending blood up to the brain, and you’re buying those blood vessels and that tissue time until paramedics can get there,” said EMSA Paramedic Heather Yazdanipour.

But her efforts were almost hampered when her husband, who doesn’t have training, stepped in to help.

“When I had started CPR, he had picked him up and started beating on his back as if he was choking and I grabbed him back and was like, no you have to breathe air and get his heart back going,” said Davis.

Paramedics say parents are often hesitant to push properly on their child’s chest.

“The fear is that I may hurt them…And really the only thing you can do is good,” said Yazdanipour.

Compressions should be steady for 30 beats at a time. It’s important note, however, that CPR is performed slightly differently for children under the age of one.

“Birth to one year of age, you’re going to use two fingers on the center of the chest, lower half of the breast bone and push a third of the depth of the chest. For child, which is one year to puberty, we’re going to use the palm of the hand,” explained Yazdanipour.

EMSA encourages you to follow the three Cs: check the victim, call 911, and compress the chest for the best possible outcome in a drowning situation.