Two days after Christmas, Abbie Raga's dad was having a hard time breathing. Tom Raga told his 7-year-old daughter to call 911.
Tom estimates he spent two hours making cuts on wood for a project in an unventilated room in the family's home in the 800 block of Hidden Spring Drive in unincorporated St. Charles County. Feeling light headed, he went upstairs and sat down on a sofa.
"I was out of breath. It was getting to the point I couldn't take a breath," Tom said. "I'd had a headache for 45 minutes to an hour, and the last 10 to 15 minutes it intensified a lot. I laid down and called my wife, and said, 'You've got to come home.'"
Then Abbie took over, becoming Tom's lifeline until paramedics arrived. Her calm voice can be heard as she talked to St. Charles County Ambulance District dispatcher Vicki Schramm for about four minutes before a neighbor arrived. Tom never lost consciousness, but said the ordeal was too painful for him to talk.
"I called 911 for my dad because he couldn't breathe or talk," Abbie said. "It was probably like he didn't want to talk because it hurt."
Abbie's mom, Lynn, was at work in Clayton when Tom became ill. Abbie had already called Lynn and told her her dad was sick and to come home, but she was at least 20 minutes away. Abbie had to act to help her dad.
During the 911 call, Schramm guided Abbie to unlock the front door, turn on the front porch light and keep checking on Tom's status. She passed all of Schramm's instructions with flying colors.
Schramm, who has worked for the ambulance district for 10 years, has children and grandchildren of her own. During the course of the 911 call, Schramm's tone with Abbie is motherly and soothing. Schramm said children don't get enough credit for how they react to emergency situations.
"We talk about different types of callers all the time," Schramm said of her fellow dispatchers. "A child caller is almost perfect because they do what you ask, and if you talk to them they will talk back. They typically will stay calm if you are calm with them.
"We don't get an enormous amount of child callers," she said. "Usually when we get a child caller it seems like an adult takes over right away."
Abbie's neighbor didn't start talking to Schramm until the paramedics were well on their way. At one point during their conversation, Schramm asks Abbie if Tom is changing colors. Abbie said he wasn't and that it looked like he as thinking about something.
"At one point (Tom) got on the phone and it was clear he was struggling to breathe," Schramm said. "I told him, 'Let your daughter have the phone because she's doing wonderful.'"
Given Tom's symptoms, he thought he was having a heart attack. Given his age, 53, paramedics reached the same conclusion, and Tom said he was administered nitroglycerin. He was rushed to the emergency room at Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital, where he said he spent about two hours before being allowed to go home.
Tom wondered what would have happened if Abbie had been in school that day. The Ragas' 5-year-old son, Andrew, was also home at the time. Tom called his neighbor on his cell phone, then gave the phone to Andrew, who told the neighbor his dad needed help.
"I could have been here by myself," Tom said. "I could have passed out. It got to that point. Abbie got the iPad and I started reading the symptoms, and I didn't have the symptoms of a heart attack. After that, I don't remember a lot."
For the large part she played in getting Tom to the hospital quickly, Abbie has been the subject of TV reports, was recognized during the Francis Howell school board's Jan. 19 meeting, and was honored by the ambulance district on Jan. 25, when she was presented with a special citizen service award and a gift certificate from Build A Bear.
Abbie said she doesn't think she's a hero, even though her dad, Schramm and members of the ambulance district would disagree. During the interview with a newspaper reporter, Abbie started sobbing as she talked about that day. Her dad quickly swept her up into his arms, and she burrowed her face into his chest.
Sometimes it's OK just to be a 7-year-old girl who loves her daddy.
http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/stcharles/news/st-charles-county-girl-kept-her-cool-during-call/article_b9217445-6081-5617-931e-18c2a67de9c2.html#ixzz1loLGHVuk
