HARTFORD – A Hartford police officer was recognized for her efforts saving a child who nearly choked to death last year in Bellevue Square.
Jill Kidik received the Meritorious Service Award from the Police Commissioners Association of Connecticut for her actions on Sunday, December 13, 2015, at just after 3 p.m. when she responded to a home on Mary Shepard Place for a report of a 1-year-old boy who was not breathing and unresponsive.
Police said that, upon arrival, Kidik was immediately approached by a frantic woman who carried the boy to her. Kidik quickly determined that the child was not breathing and saw that he was his eyes rolled toward the back of his head. The child was not moving and, by all accounts, was fully unconscious and entirely unresponsive. She figured out that the child had been eating cereal and was choking. Efforts to give CPR and other lifesaving measures taken by family members didn’t work.
Police said that without hesitating Kidik began emergency first aid measures, alone, because emergency personnel had not yet arrived. on scene. Her CPR efforts were also unsuccessful, after she tried clearing the boy’s throat, so she switch to the Heimlich maneuver. Kidik did this for about a minute when the boy began to scream, cough and slowly start to breathe on his own.
The boy was taken to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center for evaluation and further treatment and ultimately admitted to the hospital but expected to fully recover.
Police said Kidik’s actions are an example of some of the heroic things many officers do on a regular basis. Kidik has also been presented with the Hartford Police Department’s Lifesaving Award.
Without a doubt, police said, had Kidik not taken the action that she did, the young child would have certainly not survived.
