App saves baby's life in Spokane by sending signal for help

SPOKANE, Wash. -- A baby is alive thanks to a mechanic and his smart phone.

It started inside a Spokane shop that sells ballet slippers and tutus. Store clerk Lesley Reckord heard that a baby was turning blue and called 911, kxly.com reports.

"When you hear that, you just pick up the phone and call 911, so I did that. And I saw her, and she was just saying, 'He's not breathing, he's not breathing,'" Reckord said.

Reckord, a former lifeguard, put 1-month-old Nolan on the ground and began rescue breathing. Meanwhile, two blocks away, master technician Jeff Olson was working on a car when his cell phone went off.

"It sounded like an Amber Alert, you know how they come out, and so i looked at it and it said, 'CPR needed,' and it gave the address," Olson said.

And so Olson, who's a volunteer EMT for Deer Park Ambulance, left his garage and raced to the dance shop.

"I asked the lady standing outside, 'Do you have a medical emergency here?' And she said, 'It's an infant, and he's blue,'" Olson said. "I just kind of, you know, just suck up a little bit."

"And this guy just came out of nowhere and just scooped the baby up and really knew what he was doing, which was such a blessing to all of us," Reckord said.

Olson knew his lifesaving skills were needed because he had registered his phone with the Pulse Point app. While fire paramedics were still several minutes away, the app put Olson in the right place at the right time to keep Nolan alive.

"I don't think I've ever done CPR on an infant before or even rescue breathing, and when I got done I shook for about ten minutes," Olson said.

This is the first save since the Spokane Fire Department connected Pulse Point to its dispatch center.

"The real reason we are so invested in this technology is that you can be a life saver. This is one of the only apps that you can download if you know CPR, you can actually save somebody's life," said Assist Chief Brian Schaffer, Spokane Fire Dept.

Nolan is recovering at a local hospital.