Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Guardian Angels like bubble gum too.....

Here's another "Frank" story. It was a relatively quiet day, not much had happened to make it memorable in any way. I remember it was cold outside and even though the sun felt warm and inviting through the windows, snow covered the ground. I was dispatching that day. Frank was back in the report writing room, putting the finishing touches on some reports before heading back out to patrol the area one last time before his shift ended. Its funny the things you remember when thinking back on stuff. I remember that Frank loved bubble gum and he was chewing some that was aqua in color. Frank was very confident and self-assured; he sort of had that demeanor like Fonzie of Happy Days, although he didn't look like him. A black leather jacket was part of his police uniform though as he was part of the traffic detail. Years before he had been part of a team when he was with the big city and they had to be perfect in their dress. Not one wrinkle, not one hair out of place, shoes and leather shined to the max. The gum was his only "vice", if you want to call it that, although it was not against any of our rules and regulations.

All of a sudden the outside vestibule door opened and this woman ran in, hysterical. In her arms she held a little girl, who was about three years old. Neither mother or daughter had on coats or shoes. The little girl was limp in her arms and blue in color, obviously not breathing. This young mother lived about the distance of a little over one city block from our station and she had swooped up her child and ran barefoot out of her house in all that snow, through our back parking lot and in through our doors. She had been feeding her daughter and suddenly she had stopped breathing....probably something caught in her throat.

I had to hit a buzzer to unlock the inner door to allow her entry and I did that at the same time I yelled for Frank. He came immediately out of the report writing room, took one look and instantly assessed the situation and took charge. I remember he took the child from the mother and laid her on the floor checking her airway as he did so. At that time he also reached in his own mouth and I saw the aqua gum go flying. Frank performed CPR on the hallway floor and in less than a minute the child was crying and getting her color back. Frank gently lifted her off the floor and handed her to her mother, someone else grabbed a coat to cover them both.

I'll never forget the look of gratitude on that woman's face as she was handed her very much alive, scared and noisy child.....a sound that was, no doubt, music to her ears. She was driven home in a patrol car, the front door of her house still standing wide open. She later took her daughter to her doctor for a checkup and was assured that all was fine. Oh....and we never did find Frank's gum.

As a requirement of our job, we all had to take CPR training but, thankfully, I never had to use it. Frank took it all in stride....just another day in the life of a cop. You never know what's going to happen from one minute to the next and through all that commotion Frank still looked perfect and would have passed big-city inspection with no problem.

11 comments:

Gladys said...

Great Story. Reminds a whole lot of Trooper Bob, my daddy. He never got flustered or excited just took it all in stride. He did it with style and grace and a whole lot of humility.

God bless Frank.

Loz said...

Heroism, I think, rests in being able to do the hardest things without thinking and in the belief that it is just part of the job

Brad said...

Great story. You say he took it in stirde. I don't know how that's possible. If it were me I'd be singing it from the roof tops! "Look I saved a life!" What better thing can a person do? Hopefully Frank had enough self respect to acknowledge, at least to himself, what he had done.

Cheryl said...

This brought tears to my eyes. So glad for a wonderful ending to the story.

I was certified in CPR but thankfully have never had to use it. I don't think I'd remember what to do.

Jamie said...

What a beautiful story Charlotte. I loved reading it, I nearly cried. Why do you always do that to me? :)

Hugs.

Anonymous said...

That was beautiful Val. I think Frank has a little bit of an Angel about him and I know these things you know ;)

Joy Des Jardins said...

Frank's becoming the hero of your blog Val. Maybe you should have a special section dedicated just to him....'Fabulous Frank...Hero, Angel, Friend.'

Anonymous said...

Way to go Frank, I'm the first one to act like a total dillhole in any emergency situation.....just one more reason to love me.

ac said...

I have tears.... but in a good way. :) ac

Jenny said...

you are a very good story teller and that's a great one.

Thanks.

Summer said...

I wish we all had a Frank in our lives. Great story telling Val!