LOCKPORT – Veteran police officers were in the right place at the right time last week to save an infant’s life.
“It was strange. We had just completed an unrelated call in the Sunset Ridge subdivision around 3:30 p.m. when we got the ambulance assist call there in the subdivision,” Officer Dennis Ivanich said.
Ivanich, an 18-year-veteran and Officer Ron Smiles, who has been a Lockport officer for 19 years, arrived at the house Thursday before the Lockport Township ambulance and went inside.
“The mom was in the living room pointing to a 4-week-old baby on the floor who was turning purplish and not breathing,” Ivanich said.
Ivanich began performing CPR and continued until Smiles informed him a Lockport Township ambulance had arrived. The police officers ran the girl out to waiting paramedics who took her to Silver Cross Hospital. Ivanich drove the mother to the hospital. The baby has had ongoing medical issues and will undergo further tests.
“She was later transported by ambulance to Children’s Hospital, but I spoke with the father Saturday and he said she was breathing on her own,” Ivanich said.