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May 1, 2008

Dispatcher talks woman through child's recovery

'Everything was just perfect. It saved that baby's life'

By LOHR McKINSTRY

LEWIS -- When emergency dispatcher Lee Torrance answered the phone at the Essex County Enhanced 911 center, an excited caller told him something he dreaded.

The call was from a Lewis day-care center: "We have a baby that's not breathing."

Torrance, a State Police civilian dispatcher who was cross-training that day in the 911 center, immediately flipped open an Emergency Medical Dispatch card so he could follow the procedure explained there.

At the same time, county 911 dispatcher Max Thwaits dispatched Elizabethtown-Lewis Ambulance Squad and the Essex County Sheriff's Department to the center on Cutting Road.

CPR HELP BY PHONE

Torrance began giving directions to day-care owner Jean Brown on how to perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation on the baby, 4-month-old Nicholas Thompson.

"I want you to put your mouth over the baby's mouth and nose," he told Brown. "Try to put breaths in. Take your two middle fingers and do compressions on the baby's chest."

He told her to do 30 pumps, then two breaths.

"You really have to hurry," she said as the procedure was performed.

A Sheriff's Department car was already on her road headed for her house, he told her.

She continued the CPR, then said: "Oh, my God. He's breathing again."

At that moment, Deputy Robert Rice was running into the residence to take over CPR.

"Jean was giving him CPR," Rice said. "I held the child until (emergency medical technician) Patty Bashaw got there."

The baby recovered and is out of the hospital, he said.

"Everything came out perfectly."

CROSS-TRAINING

County Enhanced-911 Coordinator Donald Jaquish said the Emergency Medical Dispatch card system is something they started soon after the new 911 center opened.

"It's a benefit of having a new dispatch center. What happened here is we had a State Police communications specialist sitting in a county dispatch chair. It was interagency cooperation."

The State Police dispatch operation is located in the 911 center, and dispatchers have been cross-training so they can handle each other's duties in emergencies.

TEAM EFFORT

Brown praises Torrance and everyone involved in saving the child's life.

"They were wonderful. If it hadn't been for the team effort and everybody doing what they were supposed to do, the baby wouldn't have started breathing again. Everything was just perfect. It saved that baby's life. I'm very grateful."

Nicholas is the son of John and Terra Thompson of Lewis.

"Everything went smoothly," Mr. Thompson said. "It was all positive."

He said Nicholas was treated at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington and is now fine.

Results like that make Torrance feel good.

"When Deputy Rice and the ambulance squad got there, they said, The baby's breathing.' I was pleased for the people. Good outcomes are always better than poor outcomes."

The closest thing he's had to that call was one where a child was choking, and that also turned out OK, he said.

"Those calls are the ones you hope you don't get."

lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com

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