911 Heroes Awards honour eight children for bravery
Maxwell Pozzo had no idea the lessons he learned at school about how to detect the signs of a stroke would be put into practice weeks later, when he helped get his father receive emergency care.
Maxwell, 8, was at home with his dad, Mike, a Calgary firefighter, when his father fell.
“It was kind of scary, I didn’t think it was anything too serious,” said Maxwell. “I thought it was just a headache. I was going to find an ice pack.”
Sensing his dad was experiencing something more serious, Maxwell quickly jumped into action, calling his mother, who in turn called 911. An emergency communications operator patched Maxwell into the call.
From a series of questions, the operator recognized the father might be having a stroke, and began walking Maxwell through a series of steps to more accurately determine if that was the case.
Maxwell can be heard on the call: “Now dad lift both of your arms above for as long as you can. OK, good. Can you smile like this? OK, he’s kind of having a stroke.”
“I did the arm test,” said Maxwell. “It was OK, his speech was OK, but his smile … this side wouldn’t go up,” he said, pointing to the right side of his mouth.
Maxwell was among eight children honoured for their bravery Friday at the annual 911 Heroes Awards organized by the City of Calgary.
“(They ’re) the first of the first responders,” said Doug Odney, acting commander of Calgary 911.
“(Children) are so effective in the sense that they’re just so innocent, and they’re just prepared to answer any question that we have,” he said.
“Sometimes, we have adult callers that can actually be very difficult, because they think they know what they need to tell us … (But children) call, they answer the questions, and we get them the help that they need.”
“It shocked me he knew the signs of a stroke. I knew I was having a stroke,” said Pozzo, having responded to hundreds of calls himself as a first responder.
Treatment for strokes is extremely time sensitive, say emergency officials. Maxwell’s quick response is the reason his dad has no lasting damage and is able to return to work in a month.
Pozzo teared up thinking about his son’s quick thinking.
“I wouldn’t think anything less (of Maxwell),” he said.
Taylor Barnes, 7, also took quick action when her mother fell, cutting herself so deeply she required emergency surgery.
Taylor was able to apply pressure to her mom’s cut, lock away the family chihuahua and meet paramedics at the door.
“She’s just so brave, super calm, didn’t falter. Right on top of everything,” said Erin Stoddart, the 911 operator who nominated Barnes.
Stoddart said throughout the call, Barnes kept saying to her mom, “it’s OK mom, you’re doing really good, mom.”
Also honoured for their heroic 911 calls Friday were Paige Low, Zariah Labranche, Neil Robinson, Owen Skinner, Graeme Lawlor and Abdul Al-Dulaimi.