On a sunny Saturday in late June, 9-year-old Gabriela Varela enjoyed a snow cone, and then splashed in the waters at Boyd Lake surrounded by family members. Her cousins were making sand castles.
Her parents, Victoria and Jesus Varela, were keeping an eye on her from the shore.
Suddenly, they saw a teen carrying a child out of the water. They rushed to see if they could help, only to see it was their young daughter, Gabby, not breathing and blue.
Nearby, Nancy Espindola was enjoying the beach with her family when her cousin pointed out that someone needed help. Nancy, who works as a patient care assistant at McKee Medical Center, rushed over to help. She didn’t hesitate. She didn’t pause.
She saw a child who was blue, who wasn’t breathing, and she immediately began cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
“I checked her pulse,” said Nancy. “I checked her neck, her wrist, her foot, she didn’t have one.”
Gabby’s cousin, Sophia Marquez, who froze at first but also had CPR training, helped Nancy as they administered three full rounds of chest compressions. Together, they brought Gabby back.
“She started coughing, and I was like, ‘Yes, come on,’” said Nancy. “She started coughing up sand and water. It seemed like a million years, but I think I did three rounds of compressions.”
Thompson Valley Emergency Medical Services paramedics arrived and transported Gabby to McKee Medical Center, and from there she was sent to the Children’s Hospital. The initial prognosis was bleak.
“The doctor, she told me Gabby was probably not going to make it,” said Victoria, tears welling up in her eyes.
But she did. The child was in the hospital until July 7, on a ventilator for several days. Her dad, Jesus, remembers the first time she opened her eyes. He was at her bedside talking with her grandparents on FaceTime, still not knowing if she would wake and, if she did, if Gabby would have brain damage.
He saw her open one eye and grabbed her hand.
“I asked her, ‘Can you hear me?’ She pressed my hand,” Jesus said. “I looked at her and said, ‘Do you know who I am?’ She said yes. I asked her, ‘Do you remember me?’ She said yes. I asked her, ‘Do you know I’m your dad?’ She said yes again and kept pressing my hand.”
The young girl was awake and on the road to recovery. She is now home in Evans with her family, and though her voice is softer and she is still sore from the breathing tube, she did not suffer any lasting damage. She is back to herself, loving to color and squabbling with her siblings.
Her family feels blessed that she survived, thankful for the quick actions that saved her and ready to share their story with others. They, and Nancy, urge people to wear life jackets while swimming at area lakes. They were watching Gabby, and in just minutes, their lives could have changed forever.
Victoria said they believe Gabby, who suffers from epilepsy, had a seizure in the water. They are thankful for Nancy and Sophia and for the teenage boy — they don’t know his name — who noticed she was struggling and carried her out of the water for help.
“The kid that noticed her and took the time to go up to her and check on her did the best,” said Sophia. “He didn’t know her, but he checked on her.”
Jason Hatch, a cardiologist at McKee Medical Center, lauded those who acted fast, who saved the young girl. He said those key moments are vital and urged people, if they are in the situation, to step up and help because “precious minutes could mean life or death.”
“She had the wherewithal to immediately perform heroic lifesaving measures to save this young girl’s life,” Hatch said of Nancy. “We’re trying to get that message out to the community. … Don’t be afraid. Just act.”
An effort that has been in place in Loveland for several years, called Heart Safe Community, aims to teach residents how to do CPR and to place automatic external defibrillators in public areas throughout the community.
The Loveland effort — a partnership between the McKee Foundation, Thompson Valley Emergency Medical Services, the Thompson School District, Loveland Police Department and Loveland Fire Rescue Authority — has placed more than 100 AEDs within the community and trained thousands on CPR, including for several years all sophomores in the Thompson School District.
The ambulance service still offers classes to anyone who wants to become trained in CPR, said Battalion Chief Mark Turner, noting that there is information available at tvems.com.
He echoed Hatch in that CPR and acting fast is so important. The American Heart Association reports that every minute without chest compressions during cardiac arrest reduces the person’s chance of survival by up to 10%, Turner said. That’s 1% every six seconds, he added.
Victoria and Jesus Varela are thankful that Nancy and Sophia acted so quickly. They know their daughter was close to dying, but instead she is thriving.
Nancy, too, said even one more minute without CPR, and the result would have been much different. She has visited with Gabby since the incident and is quick to hug the young girl, who has given both Nancy and Sophia flowers and cards.
On a recent Sunday, when they returned to Boyd Lake to talk about the near drowning, Gabby again brought them both letters and several pictures that she colored for each of her angels.
Victoria paused, rubbing the tears in her eyes, to think about what could have happened.
“If it wasn’t for them,” she said, “Gabby wouldn’t be here.”
Nancy never even thought twice about performing CPR, even during COVID-19.
“She is a child,” Nancy said. “She has a whole life ahead of her.”
"save" - Google News
August 09, 2020 at 09:51AM
https://ift.tt/33F4kx0
Quick actions by McKee employee, cousin save girl at Boyd Lake - Loveland Reporter-Herald
"save" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2SvBSrf
https://ift.tt/2zJxCxA
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Quick actions by McKee employee, cousin save girl at Boyd Lake - Loveland Reporter-Herald"
Post a Comment