A 19-year-old girl used CPR to save the life of a toddler who nearly drowned in a Boston suburb swimming pool
Savennah Mendes-Rodrigues said she was studying for her dental school admissions test when she heard screams near her house.
“And then out of nowhere we hear screaming and ‘oh call the ambulance, call the ambulance,’ and then I come out to the kitchen and there’s a little kid on the floor,” Savennah said.
A 2-year-old boy fell into the pool in the Massachusetts town of Abington and was pulled out by his family. He was barely breathing when he was brought inside.
Meanwhile, Savennah was calm and started chest compressions on the toddler while his family was panicking around her. “I was really calm, I started chest compressions while everyone was panicking in the background,” Mendes-Rodrigues said.
Savennah said that she continued doing CPR on the toddler till the first responders arrived, and by then the boy had started breathing. She said she counted compressions to the beat of the ’70s disco hit, “Stayin’ Alive.”
Fire crews helped the child after that and he was taken to a hospital and is expected to recover, according to a deputy fire chief.
Savennah is all praise for CPR, she said, “When I was training for CPR everyone was like ‘I’m never going to use this, this is pointless,’ until you’re actually in the situation, and then it’s like woah, it looks like this is actually pretty useful,” she said.
