By Eric Schwartzberg
The Journal-News
MONROE, Ohio — A 17-year-old baby sitter helped rescue an unresponsive toddler after a near drowning.
The 18-month-old girl was wearing a flotation device in the pool in the 100 block of Overbrook Court around 5:30 p.m. Thursday when the device reportedly tipped over, according to Monroe police.
The baby sitter ran to a neighbor’s home to get help and called 911, according to Monroe police officer Joshua King, the department’s public information officer.
The neighbor hurried to the home and performed CPR on the toddler, resuscitating her, King said.
“The neighbor’s the one who was able to get the child responsive again and then the fire department took over when they got there and they were able to get her stabilized,” he said.
The child was taken by helicopter to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center as a precaution, police said.
Monroe Fire Department crews and a CareFlight medical helicopter were just down the road thanks to a Monroe Night Out event, he said.
“They (the helicopter crew) actually weren’t supposed to be there until 6 (p.m.) but they called me that afternoon to see if the could come earlier due to some scheduling issues they had with maintenance and so it just happened that they were there when the incident occurred,” King said.
A 911 call illustrated the tense moments until medics arrived on the scene.
“She’s not breathing!” the babysitter frantically told a Monroe emergency dispatcher.
“What’s going on?” the dispatcher said, quickly discerning both the situation and the infant’s age.
“The door was locked and I was trying to get it open,” the teen said. “She was in the pool.”
The child’s parents were at work at the time of the incident.
“How long was she in the pool?” asked the dispatcher.
“Probably like 20 seconds,” the teen said, adding that the child was not blue but her eyes were rolling back in her head.
She also said the neighbor was patting the child’s back but her eyes were closed.
“I told him (the neighbor) … ‘We’re very fortunate to have a community where neighbors can get help from their neighbors,’” King said. “There’s a lot of communities out there where people don’t talk to their neighbors and we have a good community where people are always wanting to help each other.”
Police are looking into the incident to see if an investigation is warranted, King said.
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