The efforts of two off-duty nurses who were at the same place at the same time for different reasons, saved the life of a three-year-old Little Rock boy Sunday. RN Candi Brown of Heber Springs and LPN Joy Weeks of Cabot are being credited with saving the child’s life.
The boy was at the Cove Creek Park swim area on Greers Ferry Lake with his mother, her boyfriend, and family members. “They were having a picnic,” said Phil Burnham, detective with the Cleburne County Sheriff’s Department. “The mom went to change into her bathing suit and her boyfriend was with the child. The two walked to the water, but the boyfriend forgot shoes. He went to get them, only turning his back for a few seconds, and the child went into the water.”
A man walking in the water reportedly tripped over the boy and pulled him out.
Brown said, “I was dropping my children off with some of their family at a campsite when we heard screaming. They were saying a kid had drowned.”
Instinctively she jumped in to help, doing what she was trained to do, save a life. “Joy was already doing chest compressions and I checked for a pulse. He had a weak pulse so she stopped with compressions. I cleaned out his airway and did mouth to mouth.
“Johnnie Schaumleffel (another off-duty nurse), an EMT with Cove Creek First Responders, arrived and brought oxygen. He began breathing on his own, but not very well. I continued mouth to mouth and he continued to receive oxygen. He was loaded into the ambulance and taken to Baptist Health in Heber Springs.”
Weeks was at the swim area with her own children. "I just did what I hope someone would have done for my child," she said.
Schaumleffel said while she was headed to the scene, and knowing it was a child, she knew seconds were ticking by and hurried as quickly as possible. “We applied oxygen and suctioned him as best we could until NorthStar arrived. Candi and Joy are responsible for saving him.”
The boy was flown to a Little Rock hospital and at last report Monday evening he was doing fine.
Brown said people are telling her she and Weeks deserve a pat on the back, but she doesn’t consider herself a hero. She said she was doing what she has been trained to do. “I didn’t think about it, I just did it. I was only at the park five minutes and this happened within that short period of time. I was supposed to be there for this.”
Even though a pat on the back may not be felt as being needed, efforts are being made to recognize Brown and Weeks for their life-saving efforts. “We will submit paperwork to the Little Rock Corps District Office to get them recognized,” said Win Hargis, operations project manager for Greers Ferry Lake. “What they did was amazing.”
Schaumleffel wants to remind drivers about the importance of yielding to emergency vehicles. “We always do our best to get to the patient as quickly as possible. People need to yield to emergency vehicles because the life we’re trying to save could be their loved one. By yielding they may arrive a few seconds late to their destination, but those few seconds could save someone else’s life. This is truly a life or death situation and that's what I was put on this earth to do, help people.”
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The efforts of two off-duty nurses who were at the same place at the same time for different reasons, saved the life of a three-year-old Little Rock boy Sunday. RN Candi Brown of Heber Springs and LPN Joy Weeks of Cabot are being credited with saving the child’s life.
The boy was at the Cove Creek Park swim area on Greers Ferry Lake with his mother, her boyfriend, and family members. “They were having a picnic,” said Phil Burnham, detective with the Cleburne County Sheriff’s Department. “The mom went to change into her bathing suit and her boyfriend was with the child. The two walked to the water, but the boyfriend forgot shoes. He went to get them, only turning his back for a few seconds, and the child went into the water.”
A man walking in the water reportedly tripped over the boy and pulled him out.
Brown said, “I was dropping my children off with some of their family at a campsite when we heard screaming. They were saying a kid had drowned.”
Instinctively she jumped in to help, doing what she was trained to do, save a life. “Joy was already doing chest compressions and I checked for a pulse. He had a weak pulse so she stopped with compressions. I cleaned out his airway and did mouth to mouth.
“Johnnie Schaumleffel (another off-duty nurse), an EMT with Cove Creek First Responders, arrived and brought oxygen. He began breathing on his own, but not very well. I continued mouth to mouth and he continued to receive oxygen. He was loaded into the ambulance and taken to Baptist Health in Heber Springs.”
Weeks was at the swim area with her own children. "I just did what I hope someone would have done for my child," she said.
Schaumleffel said while she was headed to the scene, and knowing it was a child, she knew seconds were ticking by and hurried as quickly as possible. “We applied oxygen and suctioned him as best we could until NorthStar arrived. Candi and Joy are responsible for saving him.”
The boy was flown to a Little Rock hospital and at last report Monday evening he was doing fine.
Brown said people are telling her she and Weeks deserve a pat on the back, but she doesn’t consider herself a hero. She said she was doing what she has been trained to do. “I didn’t think about it, I just did it. I was only at the park five minutes and this happened within that short period of time. I was supposed to be there for this.”
Even though a pat on the back may not be felt as being needed, efforts are being made to recognize Brown and Weeks for their life-saving efforts. “We will submit paperwork to the Little Rock Corps District Office to get them recognized,” said Win Hargis, operations project manager for Greers Ferry Lake. “What they did was amazing.”
Schaumleffel wants to remind drivers about the importance of yielding to emergency vehicles. “We always do our best to get to the patient as quickly as possible. People need to yield to emergency vehicles because the life we’re trying to save could be their loved one. By yielding they may arrive a few seconds late to their destination, but those few seconds could save someone else’s life. This is truly a life or death situation and that's what I was put on this earth to do, help people.”
