The family health scare of a Nebraska news anchor prompted him to make a sincere plea for parents to learn how to perform CPR on their babies and children.
Bill Schammert, the evening news anchor for CBS affiliate KOLN-TV in Lincoln, Nebraska, gasped during his broadcast Monday night after returning to the newsroom after his newborn son’s hospitalization. Like an emotional Schammert broadcast to viewers on January 5, his youngest son, Cameron, aged 13, looked sick, then turned purple and “panting” when his father put him in the car seat. Although Schammert and his wife, Kym, received child CPR training as part of their prenatal classes a few months before the birth of their eldest son Theo in 2018, he told Yahoo Life that he panicked when he and Kym frantically called. to 911 for help.
“Especially when you are your own child – you are panicked and confused and don’t know what to do,” says Schammert.
Fortunately, a 911 dispatcher – whom Schammert hailed as a “hero” in his now viral transmission – was able to “guide us through everything” while he and Kym performed CPR on their son. She also sent paramedics, who arrived shortly after Cameron started crying, a sign that the baby had caught his breath. Cameron spent the next 36 hours in the hospital, where a chest X-ray revealed an unknown viral infection in his lungs.
“[Doctors] they believe he had mucus that blocked his airways and at 13 days of age he didn’t know how to expel it, so he stopped breathing, “says Schammert, adding that Cameron is currently” doing great. He’s a healthy, normal boy now. “
Please forgive the tears and watch 🙏
Last Tuesday, we were surrounded by heroes who helped save our son’s life. My goal now is to ensure that as many parents as possible know the importance of CPR in babies and children. pic.twitter.com/EGNcTuGkz5
– Bill Schammert (@BillSchammert) January 12, 2021
Although the Schammerts managed to prevent a tragic loss, the journalist says the incident highlighted the importance of learning CPR in babies and children. He and Kym received their own refresher course while in the hospital with Cameron last week, watching videos and talking to a nurse about what to do in case of another scare.
“I would encourage everyone – all parents, grandparents, caregivers – if they didn’t take a CPR course, do it, and if they took one, and it’s been over a year, it didn’t take long to retouch , ”He told Yahoo Life.
He adds that he and his wife plan to meet with the dispatcher who helped them save Cameron’s life.
“911 operators are really the first line of defense,” he says. “They are our first respondents and they are so underrated, and they shouldn’t be.”
He’s also combing through the comments that came up in his broadcast, many of them from other parents who shared their own frightening experiences.
“The comments, the messages and the demonstration of support are beyond anything we can imagine, and I read each one on Facebook and Twitter,” he says. “When you go through something like this with your own child, it can seem isolated and as if no one understands what you are going through, when in fact it let me know the exact opposite. There are so many people who know exactly what we are going through, and people who may have lost their children who are so graceful that ours survived, who are sharing their stories of survival and the impact that RCP has had on their lives, and who is oppressive .
“The goal of this is for people to know: this little thing, CPR, the 10-minute class you have at work once a year, or what you learn 30 minutes before having a baby, don’t brush off, because you never you know when you’re going to need to know, and it can really – we’re proof – save lives. “
Dr. David Markenson, medical director of American Red Cross Training Services, agrees that it is crucial for caregivers to know how to administer first aid and perform CPR, saying: “In a situation that could be tragic, you can save a life if you are trained. “
It is also important that training is specific to babies and children, he adds.
“Because children’s bodies and the way they work – especially babies – are different from adults, you need to know how to help them, and the CPR technique and some first aid steps are very different for a baby and a child,” he says Yahoo Life. “So while it’s good to know what to do for adults, special training for children and babies is needed in their CPR and first aid.
“Some of the differences that are important are where you put your hands on your chest [to do CPR] when a child is not breathing and is not responding, ”explains Markenson. “In a child, it is well between the nipple line and you want to press hard and fast, but the depth of pressure is less in a child than in adults, about 2.5 cm. If you have no training, the best thing to do is press between the nipple line about an inch and a half as fast as you can, up and down, up and down. “
Although he emphasizes that “the best thing to do is to be trained”, having “the three Cs” can also save lives in a pinch.
“We tell people to remember three things in an emergency and it’s simple to remember. The three Cs: check, call, take care ”, he explains. “Check and find out what’s going on. Then call 911 and then provide service as you are trained. All steps are important and easy to remember, but we really emphasize calling 911 earlier … the dispatcher will not only get help for you, but can talk to you over the phone about what to do. ”
He also advises using the speakerphone feature to keep your hands free for compressions while a dispatcher guides you through the process; the Red Cross first aid application, he notes, will provide instructions and connect users to a 911 dispatcher over the speakerphone. Markenson emphasizes the value of receiving training in face-to-face and practical classes – which he ensures are safe and “perfectly clean” during the pandemic, thanks to social distance and the use of individual equipment – but online training is also available through the Red Cross American.
“Although it is a rare event to need to do CPR or first aid on a baby or child, it can happen,” he says. “And if you don’t know what to do, the result can, of course, be horrible … In the heat of an emergency, the fear of not knowing what to do is the biggest barrier. Training allows you to do something. “
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