There's no such thing as a routine day at work for McKenzie Davis, a 911 dispatcher for the Flagler County Sheriff's Office in Florida, and that was made clear during a recent 12-hour shift, when she helped save the lives of a 6-month-old boy and a 71-year-old man over the span of an hour.
"She did a phenomenal job," Sheriff Rick Staly told The Daytona Beach News-Journal. "Our dispatchers are our lifeline to the community. They are on the front line for all first responders in Flagler County."
At 3:30 p.m., a woman called in and said her 6-month-old wasn't breathing. Davis, 21, told her to calm down, and then described how to administer CPR, counting the compressions so the woman could keep track. The baby soon began breathing again, and was then transported to a hospital for observation.
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About an hour later, a woman called and said her 71-year-old husband was in their swimming pool, not breathing. Davis told the woman and some of her family members to get the man out of the water, and since no one there was trained to do CPR, she gave them instructions over speaker phone. The family took turns performing compressions, as Davis kept count. When two deputies arrived on the scene, they found the man had a strong pulse, and an ambulance took him to the hospital. He is expected to make a full recovery.
Davis told the News-Journal both callers did an "excellent" job of following her instructions, and because she had been trained to always move on to the next case, it helped her remain calm as she dealt with two close calls. Davis also thanked her co-workers, saying that each one has "advanced my training, given me advice. We all help each other to make ourselves the best we can."
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