Tom Mangine
Thomas Mangine, who used the CPR he learned at New Directions to save the life of a two-year-old girl, received the Certificate of Merit from the Eastern Niagara County Chapter of the American Red Cross. The certificate is signed by Pres. George W. Bush, who is honorary chair of the American Red Cross.
Mangine also received a certificate from State Sen. George Maziarz on behalf of the people of New York State. The awards were presented Oct. 23, 2006, at the chapter’s annual meeting held at the Holiday Inn in Lockport. Michael Torrie and Mike Geier, who teach CPR and first aid at New Directions, were honored for their role. It was noted that Michele Messina, Health Services supervisor at Wyndham Lawn, brought the incident to the attention of the Red Cross Chapter.
“These are the rewards of taking a health and safety class,” noted Maureen Siekierski, executive director of the chapter. “No one who takes a health and safety class thinks they’ll ever have to use it. At least one person in every family should have this training. How sad would that be if something happened to a loved one and you didn’t know what to do? This was the perfect end to the story.”
The incident happened on the weekend of the Fourth of July. Mangine was at a get-together with friends. But the festivities took a frightening turn when his fiancée’s daughter, Nevaeh Gilbert, 2, wandered off and fell into a pool. Her brother, Anthony Hunt, 8, found her and jumped into the pool after her, pulling her to the edge and yelling for help all the while. One party guest attempted CPR, but didn’t really know how to do it. Fortunately, Mangine had taken CPR training as part of his job as assistant coordinator of Diagnostic Services, located on the campus of Wyndham Lawn Home for Children in Lockport.
“Everybody was panicking,” Mangine recalled. “I almost panicked. I kept thinking, ‘What do I need to do? What do I need to do?’ I had done CPR three times on a dummy, but never on a two-year-old girl.”
Mangine’s training didn’t let him down—he remembered what to do. He checked Nevaeh’s pulse—there was none. The toddler was blue and purple. She wasn’t breathing. He began CPR.
“After the third breath I gave her, she opened her eyes and gasped,” he said. “It was a very scary situation. Knowing it could have had a negative outcome, when she opened her eyes, it was probably the best feeling I ever had in my life.”
She was breathing, but Nevaeh’s color was still bad and she was unresponsive when she was taken to the hospital. At the hospital, her condition improved and she began talking, and the doctor said there would be no brain damage.
“I’m very grateful to have that training,” Mangine said.
In making the award presentations at the end of the Red Cross chapter’s dinner, Sen. Maziarz pointed to little Nevaeh finishing up her ice cream.
“There is no accolade or pin or button that could take the place of the smile on that little girl’s face,” he said. “And she’s oblivious to all this—she’s more interested in eating her dessert!”
Anthony, Nevaeh’s brother who pulled her from the pool, received a certificate from the Red Cross in honor of his bravery. Little Nevaeh wasn’t forgotten. She received a Clara Barton doll. In case the two-year-old wasn’t familiar with the founder of the American Red Cross, Nevaeh was also given a stuffed Mickey Mouse. The event was also attended by Mangine’s fiancée, Tammi Gilbert, and his daughter, Dayla Mangine, 11. This was only the second time the chapter has awarded the Certificate of Merit. The first time was in 1992 when Doug Wallace, who was a City of Lockport police officer, used CPR to save the life of a prisoner.
October 2006
