Between life and death

Staff

Published Thursday, April 28, 2005

By Jennifer Rogers, Tribune staff writer

Mackenzie Butler's parents spent a day this week spoiling her.

The 3-year-old was released from Mayo Clinic in Rochester Monday morning after nearly drowning in an Albert Lea hotel hot tub the night before.

"She's doing fine, just fine," said Tim Butler, the child's father.

According to the police report, Butler fell into the hot tub and when her family pulled her out and administered CPR she started breathing again.

"Mackenzie said she was walking around the side and just slipped in," Tim Butler said. "We had no idea what happened. We are all still pretty shaken up. We went out and spoiled her yesterday."

Despite the scariness of the situation, Butler's quick thinking family member's ability to perform CPR may have saved her.

"They say CPR doesn't save the life, but it does prolong people's ability to make a difference," said Brad Niebuhr, Emergency Medical Services coordinator for the Albert Lea Medical Center. "It reassured that she was able to be alive."

He advised people to always call 911 first.

"With kids, if you don't feel comfortable starting CPR, position the child on their back and lift the chin, like in a sniffing position," Niebuhr said. "See if the patient starts to breathe on their own, sometimes tipping the head will do that. If you do CPR, children's heart beats are used to running at 100 to 120. In order to do CPR that fast do five compressions in three seconds, breathe and repeat."

Calling 911 first is key, because within the first four to six minutes EMTs can be on the scene.

"A lot of times it is less than that, but if we don't have CPR started by a bystander, anything outside of that time drastically affects the outcome," said Niebuhr. "In the case of Mackenzie Butler CPR by a bystander really made the difference."

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