Northridge teen saves drowning toddler on Thanksgiving using CPR learned at school
LOS ANGELES - A Northridge teen jumped into action this Thanksgiving to help save a three-year-old who'd drowned in the family's pool, using CPR she learned in her high school class.
It happened just after 11 a.m. on Nov. 23. Security footage from the home showed the young girl walking around in the backyard, admiring the pool, before she fell in. She was in the pool for nearly four minutes before a family member saw her and pulled her out.
In that same video, the man can be seen trying to give the toddler rescue breaths and the Heimlich maneuver poolside, before carrying the child out of frame.
That's when Madison Atkinson jumped in to help, her mother Kirsten Atkinson told FOX 11. The baby was no longer breathing, and after the stepdad tried, "Madison walked over and said calmly, ‘I know CPR,’" Kirsten Atkinson said. "She then took over and performed CPR effortlessly to bring baby Maxine back to life."
Kirsten Atkinson said her daughter is a sophomore at Taft High School, and was certified in CPR last year as part of her sports medicine class. She called her daughter's actions "heroic" and a "Thanksgiving miracle."
The family said that the baby has recovered following the incident.