Nurse Breathes Life Into Boy, 2, Who Fell in Pool

A 2-year-old boy was pulled unconscious from his back-yard pool by his mother Wednesday, who frantically summoned a neighbor who is a pediatric nurse.

Zachary Mann was given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by neighbor Joanne Fischer, who said the toddler responded quickly and was coughing, spitting up, crying and able to recognize his mother by the time paramedics arrived.

“That was terrific,” Fischer said.

The “tragedy is that the family is in the process of putting a fence up around their pool,” said Fischer, a nurse in the infant intensive care unit at Long Beach Memorial Hospital. “They anticipated having it done before this. It was supposed to be finished by now.”

Zachary’s family declined comment.

The near-drowning occurred a few minutes before 1 p.m. in the 18000 block of Lakepoint Lane, according to the Huntington Beach Fire Department.

The boy’s mother, whose name was not available, had just been in the pool with her son but went inside the house for a moment to get some towels, leaving the child outside, said public information officer Birgit Davis. When she returned, Zachary was floating face-up, just under the surface of the water, Davis said.

The neighbor, Fischer, learned of the emergency when Zachary’s mother frantically ran across the street, a portable phone in her hand, and pleaded for help. Fischer said Zachary’s mother knew that she is a nurse and that Fischer’s husband is a Long Beach paramedic.

When Fischer got to the Mann house, Zachary was lying motionless in the den, just inside a sliding glass door, and was slightly blue and “bubbling water,” indicating he had taken in water, Fischer said. While she worked to resuscitate Zachary, the boy’s mother called 911. The operator “was wonderful,” Fischer said. The mother was hysterical and the operator kept her on the line and talked to her until the paramedics arrived, Fischer said.

In the meantime, Fischer pushed on Zachary’s stomach to get some of the swallowed water out of him, and then began the resuscitation.

“It took only two breaths to get him coughing and spitting up,” Fischer said, estimating it took less than a minute to get him to breathe. The paramedics arrived about the same time, she said. “When he started crying, he knew his mother, so that was a good sign. But he was still a little blue around his mouth.”

Zachary’s mother “was crying but very happy,” Fischer said.

The baby was “sucking his thumb and all pink” a short while later when Fischer visited him at Humana Hospital-Huntington Beach. The boy was transferred to Long Beach Memorial Hospital, where he was reported in good condition and was expected to be released today, according to a hospital official.

Although Fischer performs cardiopulmonary resuscitation often as a part of her job and is recertified yearly, she said it was entirely different performing the procedure Wednesday at her neighbor’s house.

“When it’s someone you know, it’s terrifying,” said Fischer, 37, and a mother herself. “I was terrified that it (the training) wouldn’t kick in . . . that I suddenly wouldn’t remember. You learn it, you get certified every year, but when you’re panic-stricken, it’s different. It’s like it’s your own child.”

The near-drowning was at least the second one this week in Orange County involving children and back-yard pools. So far this year, six children have drowned in Orange County pools.

Another Long Beach Memorial Hospital nurse, who was at Fischer’s home Wednesday afternoon to car-pool to work, said even a fence around a pool is not a foolproof safeguard against accidents. Three years ago, Stephanie Jaspers said she found her baby daughter floating in their pool after the gardener apparently broke their fence’s latch. She pulled the baby out by her diaper, and the child began breathing at once, she said.

Her daughter is fine, Jaspers said, but the family moved to a house without a pool.

“I couldn’t live there anymore, after that happened. Nothing is safe with kids and a pool.”