BOSSIER PARISH, La. (KSLA) – It was a regular day for Kid’s Company, a daycare in Bossier City, when a 6-year-old child’s heart suddenly stopped beating and others sprang into action.
Kids had been dropped off for afterschool activities on a Wednesday afternoon. Shortly after, teacher Taylor Morris heard her name being screamed and immediately knew something was wrong.
“At that point, of course I just took off running. When I got to the child, he was lying on the ground. I stopped to see if he was alert, tried talking to him. None of that was working. I went to see if I could feel a pulse. I could not.”
Morris was forced to jump into action, using her CPR training for the first time. Unexpected help arrived when Jessica Anderson, a nurse practitioner, came in earlier than her typical pickup time.
“As I am walking across the daycare, the director was standing in the parking lot on the phone with, now I know, 911 and she said, ‘Jessica, I need you down that hallway right now.’ And something in her voice told me I needed to run.”
Anderson has been in the medical field for the last 20 years, with countless hours of training under her belt. She says administering CPR on a child was a first for her as well.
Jacob Maddox works for Benton Fire District 4 as a paramedic. He was off-duty that day, which happened to be his 18th anniversary as a paramedic. He was also early picking up his daughter and was in parking lot when he got the call for a pediatric code.
“Got off the phone, ran inside, saw a child lying on the ground with some people who had starting to render aid, and I took one of the daycare workers and asked her to take my daughter who is only, not only three yet, to get her away from the situation, and then I started to help render aid to the child who was on the floor unresponsive.”
Maddox says the worst thing you can do in these situations is nothing.
“After a few minutes of oxygen deprivation to the vital organs, specifically the brain, you start to have tissue damage that could start to become irreversible, so the best thing that you can do right off the bat, once noticing recognition that there is a problem, is check for pulse, check for respirations. If none are present, immediately start CPR and activate the emergency response system. That is paramount. Good CPR will buy you time.”
The child’s parents quickly arrived at the facility, as both District 4 and Bossier Parish EMS personnel were loading him into the ambulance. Little did they know, paramedics had just applied the defibrillator, delivering a shock to the boy’s heart and getting it back in rhythm.
“I got there just as they were driving off. I kind of whipped into the parking lot, put it in park, and got out and ran to them, but they were driving off. But luckily, the EMT lady, Miss Kim, drove me right behind him,” said Heather Callicoatte, the child’s mother.
During a zoom call with KSLA from the hospital, Heather said her son was diagnosed with Long QT syndrome and they’re waiting to have a pacemaker implanted.
“We know that it is a very rare syndrome, only one in about 100,000 kids could possibly develop it, and there are really no symptoms associated with it other than fainting or seizures. It is really hard to detect for anyone.”
Heather says she’s thankful to everyone who helped perform CPR on her son, and to all the medical personnel who helped keep her child alive.
“I am very grateful they acted so quickly, because thanks to them, there is no brain damage. He is up talking, walking, every function is normal. He is still his old spit fire self as he was before, so they did everything perfectly. I think the cards were just in his favor that day for sure.”
The heroes involved echo Heather’s sentiment, saying they were put exactly where they needed to be that day.
“We saved a little boy’s life. We were able to save a life,” said Morris.
