'She did an amazing job': Off-duty nurse saves two girls with timely CPR after they fall in pool at party
BRIDGE CITY, TEXAS: A quick-acting group of individuals at a birthday party on Sunday in Bridge City are credited with saving two girls from drowning. According to Capt Elgin Browning of the Bridge City Fire Department, a 9-year-old and a 14-year-old girl were rescued from a swimming pool during a birthday celebration on Hardy St in Bridge City unconscious.
Jonah Lemoine and Lauren Boothman assisted in pulling the girls from the water, according to off-duty nurse Mary Stankus, who was present at the party. Before the arrival of emergency personnel at the residence, both girls were successfully revived by Stankus and her brother, Vu Nguyen, at that same moment, according to Browning, reports 12News.
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'I mean your first thoughts go to your own kids'
The paramedic couple Robert and Jenne Crane arrived after Cara Nguyen dialed 911. Robert said, "My partner yesterday happened to be my wife and we have a 9-year-old and a 12-year-old. So, responding to this call was a matter of just getting to the call like don't worry about what's going on with ours. I mean your first thoughts go to your own kids." He then explained they discovered they only had the necessary supplies for one patient as the ambulance sped to the location, as reported by WHAS11.
'Only one way to defibrillate a patient'
Robert said, "We were having a conversation on the way to this call as to how we were gonna treat two patients at a time when we only had one cardiac monitor, only one way to defibrillate a patient. Then when we got an update on their status. It was more of a discussion on getting them to the highest level of care possible," as per reports.
Stankus and Nguyen were giving the two girls life-saving CPR at the moment, but the couple was unaware of this. The Cranes took control and started preparing the girls for a helicopter ride when the ambulance arrived. Crane said, "Because when you intersect with a helicopter, it's all about timing. We don't want to be waiting on them, they don't want to be waiting on us. We want to meet there almost exactly at the same time. So, the patient moves as quickly as possible from one to the next," as reported by WHAS11.
'She did an amazing job'
The paramedics praise this nurse as a hero. They said, "I was like I don't know who the little angel was on scene, but we're gonna have to find her. So, she did an amazing job and she's welcome to come ride on our ambulance anytime with me."
According to Browning, both girls were transported by ambulance to the Orange County Airport on Texas Highway 87, where they were transported by chopper to Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. The girls' conditions were stable when they departed for the hospital, as reported by News12.
