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Heroic cop saves Dollard toddler from drowning
Two-year-old fell into backyard pool
MAX HARROLD
The Gazette
Saturday, April 19, 2008
A 2-year-old girl had luck on her side yesterday when she fell into the pool at her family's Dollard des Ormeaux home, the police officer who saved her life says.
The girl was in stable condition in a hospital late yesterday.
She was fortunate because her father plucked her from the pool just moments after she'd fallen in about 8 a.m., and the police officer who revived her had been patrolling nearby when her parents called 911.
The parents had gone looking for the girl when they discovered she was not in her bed.
Montreal police Constable Giovanni Zampini, 29, got to the Hemingway St. home less than a minute after the 911 call.
"I found her lying on the living room floor," he said in a televised news report. "She wasn't breathing. She was blue in the face. She was really cold." He performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. An ambulance technician arrived soon after.
"I just pictured the faces of my two young nephews and my niece," Zampini said. "I knew I had to save her life. That's what helped me to stay calm."
On average, six children age 1 to 4 drown each year in backyard pools in Quebec, said Sylvie Santerre, senior co-ordinator of injury prevention with the Quebec Red Cross.
She recommends these basic safety tips for pools:
– Put up a fence around an in-ground or above-ground pool - not just around the entire yard - if you have children under age 6.
- If there's no pool fence, block access by locking patio doors, or install removable ladders.
- Remove toys from pools so children won't be tempted to go in and get them.
- Always empty small inflatable pools when leaving the area unsupervised.
- Constantly supervise children in a pool; bring the phone, snacks and a first-aid kit poolside.