Twenty-five years ago, Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant Elizabeth Kiteley was on a layover at a hotel in Boise, Idaho when she heard screaming and ran out into the hallway. There, she found a woman with a baby that had stopped breathing. Kiteley’s training immediately kicked in and she began giving CPR, breathing for the infant and administering chest compressions. The manager of the hotel, who didn’t know CPR, called 911 and a maid tried to help calm the mother.
The 9-month-old baby girl was blue, had no pulse and wasn’t breathing, recalled Kiteley. After what seemed like an eternity, but was only minutes, the baby began to cough and Kiteley cleared her airway. She continued rescue breathing until the infant was able to breathe for herself. Then, Kiteley wrapped her in a towel and soothed her, until medics arrived to take them to the hospital.
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