Vancouver woman is toddler’s guardian Angel
Published: April 23, 2006
Angel Black of Vancouver didn’t think she’d ever use the CPR skills she learned at work in November. But she didn’t think twice about using those skills to help save a two-year-old boy Saturday.
Sean Buchite of Vancouver had been eyeing the rushing East Fork of the Lewis River since he arrived at Daybreak Park, northwest of Battle Ground, Saturday morning. Sean’s mom, 20-year-old Grace Buchite, had her hands full trying to keep an eye on him and his four-year-old sister.
“I was tying my daughter’s shoe,” Grace said. “The next thing I know, he’s out of sight.
“I knew something was up,” she said. “I thought someone could have grabbed him.”
Grace searched frantically for Sean. She asked around, but no one had seen him.
A bystander walking along the water around 1 p.m. found the toddler, said Capt. Ben Meacham with Fire District 11. “He looked to the edge of the river and (Sean) was underneath the water.”
The man pulled Sean from the river.
Black, 28, remembered the next moments: people running toward the water, her 10-year-old son yelling “someone’s calling 911″ as a crowd formed.
“I know CPR,” Black yelled.
“I checked to see if he’s breathing,” Black said later Saturday. “He’s not, obviously. He’s blue. But he had a pulse. I gave him a breath and nothing happened.”
Another breath, and water started coming out of Sean’s mouth.
“It was my breath bringing the water up,” Black said, not Sean breathing.
After about four breaths, though, Sean started spitting up the water. He gurgled. He coughed. He moved his arms.
“When he started crying, that was the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard,” Black said. “I’ve never wanted to hear a baby crying as much as this.”
By the time paramedics arrived, it was clear Sean would pull through.
Grace Buchite said Sean was spending Saturday night at Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital for observation. Although he arrived with a body temperature of around 88 degrees, Grace said, Sean warmed up quickly with blankets and heating pads.
“He’s back to his old ornery ways,” she said.
Meacham praised Black’s lifesaving efforts. “Without her doing that, it could have been a lot worse,” he said “She really saved the day. She held together and did exactly what you’re supposed to do.”
Black learned mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in a class at Frito Lay, where she works. While she’s glad she took the class, she has one suggestion:
“The little dummies you practice on don’t look a lot like a person,” she said. “They need to make the dummies blue.”
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