Page 40 - December 2015

JOB WELL DONE
Officers save 7-year-old girl
Chicago Police Officers Peter Pietrusiewicz (right) and Victor Alcazar (second from right) reunite with Mia Rodgers and her mother Chantell Carroll weeks after she nearly died from choking on a balloon. Also pictured, from left, are Chicago Fire Department Paramedics Brendan Hehir and Ron Kent.
It was a typical family gathering on Aug. 30. Seven-year-old Mia Rodgers had been blowing up a balloon while playing with her cousins. She took one deep breath in, and in an instant, it was down her throat.
Mia's father, aware his daughter was in trouble, immediately ran into the street where he flagged down Chicago Police Officers Peter Pietrusiewicz (right) and Victor Alcazar while they were on routine patrol. The two officers immediately jumped into action by perform- ing CPR. Paramedics arrived soon after and took Mia to the hospital.
“My partner and I were on routine patrol, and a man ran into the street hysterically waving his arms, flagging us down telling us, ‘We got a girl down over there, we got a girl down over there,’” Pietrusiewicz told WGN-TV. “She had her eyes open, but it was a blank stare. It looked like she was just gasping for air. My partner then took over and started doing chest compressions.”
Alcazar added: “I have two kids at home and seeing this little girl, you want to take action right away so just jumped right in there.”
Mia spent six days in the intensive care unit. But it was the actions taken in the seconds after she swallowed the balloon that made the critical difference.
“The neurologist said that her dad and that officer that gave her CPR they saved her life, they saved her brain,” said Mia’s mother, Chantel Carroll. “I’ll be forever grateful to both of them for doing that.”
Chicago Fire Department Paramedics Brendan Hehir and Ron Kent, who also were part of the lifesaving effort, met Mia after school. The second-grader drew pictures for them.
Two months after they helped save her life, the Officers along with
"I think they're awesome," Mia told WGN-TV.
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