Fast-Thinking Girl Saves Toddler

A 9-year-old girl who learned CPR from a poster at school saved the life of a toddler who nearly drowned Tuesday in the deep end of a community swimming pool.

It happened at 11:30 a.m. when fourth-grader Melissa Bianco, her nanny and two friends were visiting the pool at the Lakepines condominium complex. When it was time to leave, the 19-year-old nanny, Tiffany Mai, turned her back for a moment to dry off and told the girls to get ready to go. Then she heard 6-year-old Allison Nguyen screaming, according to police.

Allison, swimming in the shallow end with a flotation ring, had realized that her 2-year-old sister, Loren, was no longer beside her and that her empty ring was floating in the deep end, police said.

Mai, who cannot swim, saw Loren face down in the water and told Allison to paddle toward her sister and pull her to the edge of the pool. Mai and Melissa pulled the still toddler from the water, and the nanny tried unsuccessfully to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

As the only other adult who happened to be at the community pool ran to phone 911, Melissa recognized that her nanny was not correctly performing the life-saving technique.

Loren was not breathing and her lips were blue. Melissa stepped in to check the toddler’s breathing and heartbeat--just as she remembered from the pictures she had seen tacked to the wall at her school, Eastshore Elementary.

“I just wanted to help her, but at first I didn’t think I’d actually be able to do it,” Melissa said. “I saw the poster at school. When I was waiting to see the nurse, I read it to keep myself occupied. And it worked.”

Melissa began alternating between mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and pushing down on Loren’s stomach to help her expel water, witnesses told police.

“At first I was like, ‘What do I do?’ ” Melissa said. “But then I just knew I was doing it right. I was confidant. And then she was all better.”

Loren was treated by paramedics at the scene and was briefly examined at Irvine Medical Center before being released, police said.

In the past three weeks, three youngsters have drowned in Orange County. Two children died in Irvine’s Woodbridge swimming areas after slipping away from their parents. A 2-year old boy from Orange drowned in a family pool.

For Melissa’s parents, Alain and Tammy Bianco, their daughter’s cool head and quick action were a source of surprise and pride.

“I’m just super proud of her,” her mother said. “It was brave thing to do and a smart thing. But I was shocked--I didn’t even know she knew CPR.”