By Rebecca Blue
The Bradenton Herald (Florida)
Copyright 2006 The Bradenton Herald
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
Most weekdays are routine for Stacy Eliseo and her 6-month-old son, Maddox Eliseo.
But Monday, Oct. 30, wasn’t.
And each day since that scary, but “life-changing” day, has been a little different for the duo.
Like clockwork, she and Maddox had just gotten home from the preschool Eliseo works at and Maddox attends. He had finished his bottle as Eliseo put him into his swing while she prepared his bottles for the next day.
It was finally bath time. As Eliseo walked past Maddox she squeezed his cheeks, like she always does, but he didn’t respond.
“I turned another light on and he was already blue in the face,” Eliseo said. “I immediately took him out of the swing and put him on the floor while I called 911.”
As an employee of a preschool, Eliseo was certified in CPR, but at this particular moment it may have been a difficult task.
Enter Emergency Communications Center dispatcher Jaime Melser.
The call came in at 6:47 p.m., 13 minutes before Melser’s 12-hour shift was over.
Of the 312 emergency calls the center received during Melser’s shift, this call would be the highlight.
Step, by step, Melser, who’s been certified in CPR for more than five years, coached Stacy through what she calls, “the 30-2" -- 30 pumps, two puffs of air. Coincidentally, this particular instruction, set for infants, had gone in effect four days prior to Stacy’s phone call.
“I owe it all to her, without her coaching me I would have been in complete panic,” Eliseo said.
An ambulance and fire crews were en route to the Eliseo residence. Meanwhile, Melser and Eliseo, a team by fate, calmly worked together from a distance of nearly 10 miles apart.
“Inside I was freaking out, but I knew I had a job to do -- to help her,” Melser said.
A couple minutes in, it happened.
“The moment I heard him crying -- it was amazing, Melser said. “You just don’t see that everyday.”
Eliseo was on cloud nine.
“He looked up at me and gave this big smile,” she said. “Then he cried and began taking shallow breaths.”
Eliseo was able to remain calm throughout the procedure, but when the paramedics arrived and it was their turn to take over, she lost it.
“I didn’t want to have any part of it,” Eliseo said. “It didn’t register as I was doing it. I just knew I had to do it and focused on him.”
Maddox was transported to All Children’s Hospital where he was fully examined for two days. Doctors were not able to find anything wrong with him.
“He didn’t choke, he didn’t have a seizure and he doesn’t have any heart problems,” Eliseo said. “But that’s OK to us.”
Those two days without her brother were the worst in his 5-year-old sister Brooklyn’s lifetime. Unable to concentrate in her kindergarten classroom, her mind was stuck on her little brother.
“I was sad,” Brooklyn said as she tickled Maddox. “But I was happy when I got to see him again.”
Ever since the day Maddox’s life was threatened, Stacy Eliseo and her family have taken a step backwards.
“We moved him back into his cradle which rests against our bed every night,” she said. “He’s not ready to be in his crib just yet.”
That day had quite an effect on dispatcher Melser, as well.
“It made me really feel worthwhile,” she said. “There’s so many non-emergency calls we receive, but this one, it made me know I’m needed.”