It happened at 11 p.m. on Christmas Eve. A telephone call alerted 112, the telephone number of the Emergency Information and Coordination Center of the Valencian Community because a two-month-old baby, according to the description of the caller, was in cardiorespiratory arrest.
The alert came from a home in Orihuela where, as it was later learned, the girl had choked while drinking milk. Immediately, a SAMU unit was mobilized, while a nurse transmitted the necessary instructions by telephone to the baby's relatives so that they could perform basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
During the telephone communication, the relatives told the nurse that they were going by car to the Torrevieja hospital, since they were a short distance away. The SAMU ambulance was then deactivated and the nurse continued giving instructions during the journey.
After between 3 and 4 cycles of maneuvers, the girl began to cry. At that moment they were already arriving at the hospital and the nurse told them that she would continue with them on the phone until they entered the emergency room.
Once there, the baby was assisted in the Emergency Service of the Torrevieja hospital, where relatives indicated that the girl had choked on the milk. Shortly afterward she was discharged, in good health.
Sources from the Emergency Center explain that, once 112 is called, even if the basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation technique is not known, a telephone protocol is activated from the CICU, through which either the coordinating doctors or the nurses give the instructions to perform it, which is vital in the first minutes of cardiac arrest. In addition, they indicate, on the SESCV (Health Emergency Service of the Valencian Community) website there is an advice section, which any citizen can consult at any time.
