The quick thinking of an air conditioning sales consultant saved the life of a Paulding County toddler who wandered into a neighbor's small inflatable pool and nearly drowned.
Derrick Dunagan of Ragsdale Heating and Air Inc. was at the child's home Tuesday to give a quote on a new AC system. Shortly after he arrived at the ranch house on Old Brock Road in southwest Paulding, he noticed the mother searching outside for the child, who had been inside in a room being cooled by a window fan.
"When I pulled up, the lady was looking for her daughter, " Dunagan, 35, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday. The woman, whom police did not identify, suddenly became hysterical when she found her daughter in a neighbor's pool across the street.
"We pulled her out of the pool, and she was not responsive," Dunagan said. "Her eyes were rolled back . I grabbed her and hit her on the back. She spit up some water and she started to come to."
"I was just praying that she was not gone," said Dunagan, who has been with Ragsdale Heating and Air for nearly five years. He is married with two children of his own, a 1-year-old and 4-year-old. "God was in control of the whole thing -- plain and simple. It's just a miracle she's OK."
The child was breathing on her own when paramedics arrived but was transported by ambulance to the hospital, according to Paulding police spokesman Sgt. Brandon Gurley. Somehow the child was able to crawl through an opening in the window that contained the small fan at her home. Gurley said an investigation into the incident continues.
"We do not expect to file any criminal charges," Gurley said.
This is at least the second time in recent weeks that a child was rescued from a pool in Georgia. Two weeks ago, former UGA football player and now Kansas City Chiefs tight end Leonard Pope rescued a 6-year-old from drowning at a pool party in Americus.
Authorities say Tuesday's incident serves as a reminder of just how dangerous small pools can be to young children. This is the time of year and the type of weather that lure more families to pools, whether community or residential. This is also the time of year when the risk of drownings and near drownings even in small inflatable pools increases.
Because small inflatable pools average just 2 to 4 feet deep, they are easy and convenient to set up. But they also are often put up in areas that have no fence or security.
According to a report this month in the journal Peadiatrics, a child dies in a portable pool every five days during warm-weather months. The report said there have been 209 deaths and 35 near-drownings of children under 12 from 2001 through 2009. Most of the children, 94 percent, were under 5, and 81 percent of the accidents happened during summer months.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most young children who drown in pools were last seen in the home, had been out of sight less than five minutes and were in the care of one or both parents at the time.
Authorities suggest putting some type of fencing or barrier around even small pools to keep young children out of them when they are not in use. When they are in use, make sure an adult is watching who is in or around the pool.
“Make sure that temporary pools and even permanent fixture pools are safeguarded from young children,” noted Paulding County Sheriff Gary Gulledge.
The authorities also warn parents to secure open windows, which children can climb out of to get outside. Gurley, the Paulding police spokesman, said the county has had more than a few instances of children being seriously injured from falling out of windows.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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