Belinda Williams and her friend met to have a quiet dinner at a local restaurant one Friday night. It was payday and they were dressed up and ready to enjoy dinner. As they were sitting waiting on their meal, they noticed some commotion at a nearby table and saw a baby in his mother's arms. Belinda thought that the baby looked a little limp but when she heard the mother yell out, "My baby's not breathing," she grabbed her friend (a respiratory therapist) and they jumped into action. She took the 17th month boy from the mother and put him on the floor and started assessing him for breathing and a pulse as she had been trained. They asked someone to call 911 and get an AED. When they found the baby unresponsive with no pulse and blue lips, she opened his airway and her friend started compressions.
They began asking the mother and father for a history and found out that the baby had been sick with a fever and had been throwing up. She asked to make sure the baby had not had something he was allergic to or was choking on food, but to her, this appeared to be a seizure brought on by his illness. The emergency response 911 was called and there was no AED at the restaurant. They did CPR until the child regained consciousness. The EMS team got there within 10 minutes and the baby was taken to Children's at Scottish Rite.
After the EMS left with the baby, the restaurant erupted with applause. The manager of the restaurant gave them their meal for free and asked what else he could do. They responded that he could make sure that the restaurant gets an AED.
The baby was treated at Scottish Rite and recovered thanks to the heroic efforts of these two Children's employees! Belinda Williams and Stephany Melton were not only in the right place at the right time but had the training, assessment skills, and knowledge that they needed to save this baby!