Off-Duty First Responder Saves Kid On Parade Float

For once, I am proud to say... It happened in Florida!

The parents of a Florida toddler are crediting an off-duty paramedic with saving her life during a Christmas parade. According to WFLA, Kerstin Brower and her family were on a float in the Havendale Christmas Parade in Polk County, Florida, last week when her one-year-old daughter, Elena, suffered a medical emergency. “Her eyes were just beet red. They were bulging out. Her lips were turning a different color,” the mother recalls. “You could tell there was no oxygen getting into her.”

The family frantically tried to get baby Elena to start breathing again, but nothing was working. “She kind of laid her head down on my father’s chest and closed her eyes and at that point,” says Kerstin, “We kind of knew she had given up.” But then Dustin Bovill, an off-duty paramedic with Polk County Fire Rescue, jumped up on the moving float to save the day.

Bovill carefully struck the baby on the back and, just like that, she was breathing again and was as happy as ever. The hero stayed on the float to keep an eye on Elena until they could have her checked out on a rescue truck and the Browers believe he saved their baby’s life. “I’m like, literally speechless about him,” Kerstin says tearfully. “I have no clue what to say besides ‘Thank you.’”

Source: WFLA