LINCOLN COUNTY, Mo. — After a Lincoln County 18-month-old girl apparently wandered into her family’s swimming pool Monday afternoon, first responders got a call for a water rescue.
Like few other similar cases this summer, this cautionary tale has a happy ending.
“Our dispatchers, who do a great job, worked the father through the scenario of how to do CPR on his daughter and clear the airway," Winfield-Foley Fire Protection District Chief Arron Lee said. "The father was very successful in that.”
Lee said it happened in a backyard pool near Highway 47 and South Ethlyn Road.
“Lincoln County Ambulance District, along with fire department, worked diligently and were able to clear her lungs out,” said Lee. “I understand she’s making a 100% recovery at this point.”
In a county with plenty of families with children and no shortage of backyard pools, Chief Lee is hoping this close call serves as a cautionary tale.
“A lot of this can be eliminated with proper U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets,” said Lee, “also by not leaving your kids unattended and doing your best to lock up your gate around the pool.”
It comes in a summer when emergency crews have responded to multiple calls for young people drowning in area rivers and lakes.
“We do nothing but do our best,” said Lee. “Any time we get a save like this, or any time we’re part of a save like this, it just really reassures us what we’re here for.”
As we approach the hot weeks of summer, Chief Lee said kids should always have a swim buddy, and it’s a good idea to dress kids in brightly colored swimsuits so parents can easily pick them out of a crowd at the pool.