By Brian Chasnoff
San Antonio Express-News
Copyright 2007 San Antonio Express-News
All Rights Reserved
SAN ANTONIO, N.M. — The toddler was cold and limp, her lungs severely damaged, by the time paramedics arrived at the Spring Branch home.
Fourteen months old at the time, Mia Deuter had escaped the attention of her dad and plummeted into the family’s swimming pool, where she stayed underwater more than five minutes before Brian Deuter realized what had happened, officials said.
That was the afternoon of March 16. On Wednesday, less than 10 weeks later, a grinning Mia clutched a teddy bear and waved at reporters before toddling joyfully down a path.
According to her parents, she’s recovered fully.
But don’t call it a miracle.
Emergency responders gathered with the Deuter family to recognize the rescue effort that made Mia’s recovery possible.
Dubbed the “chain of survival,” it spanned the actions of Mia’s father, who knew CPR and performed it on his daughter immediately, to those of pediatric personnel at University Hospital, where Mia spent the next three weeks in intensive care.
In between, Mia also received CPR from a neighbor and first responders from the Bulverde Volunteer Fire Department before paramedics arrived and San Antonio AirLife delivered her to the hospital more than an hour after she was found at the bottom of the pool.
“If one of those links in the chain had been broken, this would not have been the outcome,” said Chris Smith, a paramedic with the Bulverde Spring Branch EMS Department in Comal County.
Wednesday’s event, scheduled during National EMS Week, was punctuated by the descent of an AirLife helicopter onto a field behind the department’s headquarters. Officials there championed the actions of rescuers who save lives, stressing the importance of skills that even non-emergency responders should learn.
“CPR was the key component” to saving Mia’s life, Smith said.
Brian Deuter said he learned CPR seven years before it was needed to save his daughter’s life.
“I can’t express how important it is for everybody to know CPR,” he said.
Anyone interested in learning the vital skill may contact the American Heart Association at (877) 242-4277.
As for Mia’s apparent full recovery, her parents and officials tempered their admiration for emergency responders with a reverence for the mysteries of human survival. Smith, who arrived on the scene to treat the toddler, said she’d appeared blue and lifeless.
“It’s all about how resilient the body is,” he said.