New York dad saves his own daughter with CPR training he'd used for the 1st time

NEW YORK — A children’s worker trained in CPR used his life-saving skills for the first time to revive his own daughter when she suffered a terrifying seizure the day after a round of immunization shots.

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Rasheen Hill had just opened the door to his Queens home after his shift at the New York City Children’s Center nearby when his wife frantically called out to him.

Rachel Hill was trying to get her 1-year-old daughter Shiloh and 4-year-old son Zion to bed around 9 p.m. on June 25 when the little girl suddenly went limp in her arms.

Just seconds earlier, Shiloh was happily camped out near the tub, tugging at a roll of toilet paper as her older brother was bathed. As the busy mom hefted Shiloh to shuffle her two kids to their room for bedtime, the girl stopped moving — and fear took over.

“I called to her and she didn’t respond,” Rachel said. “And that was where the panic had set in."

The normally active Shiloh was motionless. Her lips were turning blue and her eyes weren’t fixed, Rachel told the Daily News.

“I kept calling her name and her eyes kept rolling back, I was really scared," Rachel recalled.

The terrified mother heard her husband Rasheen entering their St. Albans home and hastily called for him.

Rasheen saw his daughter in her unresponsive state — and immediately sprang into action.

"Instincts just kicked in,” said Rasheen, 43, a mental health therapy coordinator who is required to take annual CPR classes for his job, even though he’d never had to use them.

“I swept her throat to see if there was blockage and did two cycles of CPR. I’ve worked with children for 19 years, and the first time I’m using my CPR training is on my own child," he said.

As he labored to save his daughter, Shiloh’s mom called 911. By the time first responders arrived a few minutes later, the girl was breathing again on her own and conscious, the parents said.

A four hour stay at Jamaica Hospital ended with a “lively and playful” Shiloh returning home at 2:30 a.m., her mom, a high school assistant principal, told The News.

“By the time we came home it was as though nothing had happened,” Rachel added Thursday, more than a week after the alarming incident.

The family later learned the adorable tot had a febrile seizure, the likely result of a 102-degree fever she had following a set of immunization shots.

On Independence Day, the cherished child was the center of attention at a family barbecue at her grandfather’s house in Staten Island.

Rasheen, who works with troubled teenagers, said he was thankful for his annual CPR training and glad his untested skills passed muster at the right time.

“It was divine intervention,” Rachel said, adding that she’d been running a half-hour behind the kids’ normal schedule the night of the frightening event. “I’m thankful I got the kids to bed late.”

Her husband hopes their scare will inspire other adults with children in their care to get emergency rescue training.

“I think parents should learn CPR because I’m thankful I was able to use it when I needed it most,” he said.

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©2019 New York Daily News

Learn, Enjoy and Save Life. HealthForce Training Center offer services such as Basic Life Support (BLS), Advance Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS), Pediatric Advance Life Support (PALS), CPR AED, Pediatric First Aid CPR AED and First Aid CPR AED. Read more of our blogs.

Source(s):

• By Ennica Jacob ,

• Shayna Jacobs

• Leonard Greene

New York Daily News