JACINTO CITY Emergency crew recognized for rescuing child

Jacinto City Paramedics Mike Bodek, left, James Aston, Jose Garza, 911 Police Dispatcher Tatiana Viana, Miguel Muro Jr. holding his cousin Joshua Matheny Jr., Mayor Ana Diaz, Joshua Matheny and Fire Chief Rebecca Mier. (Photo by Allan Jamail)
Jacinto City Paramedics Mike Bodek, left, James Aston, Jose Garza, 911 Police Dispatcher Tatiana Viana, Miguel Muro Jr. holding his cousin Joshua Matheny Jr., Mayor Ana Diaz, Joshua Matheny and Fire Chief Rebecca Mier. (Photo by Allan Jamail)
Jacinto City Paramedics Mike Bodek, left, James Aston, Jose Garza, 911 Police Dispatcher Tatiana Viana, Miguel Muro Jr. holding his cousin Joshua Matheny Jr., Mayor Ana Diaz, Joshua Matheny and Fire Chief Rebecca Mier. (Photo by Allan Jamail)

March 24, 2016 – Thursday’s Jacinto City’s Council Meeting was full of words of praises along with award presentations by Mayor Ana Diaz and Fire Chief Rebecca Mier to members of the Fire Department’s Emergency First Responder’s Unit and a 911 Police Dispatcher for their successful response to a 911 Emergency hang-up call.

It was Valentine’s Day February 14th when the family of Roger Matheny who’s known for his years of being Santa Claus as he rides the fire engine truck throughout the city giving candy stockings to the kids discovered that his 3 year old grandson Joshua Matheny Jr. was missing from within the house where family members had gathered for a visit.

Roger said, “Everyone began to call out and search and within minutes my grandson’s cousin 11 year old Miguel Muro Jr. ran to the backyard and discovered his missing cousin submerged in the family’s swimming pool.”

After Miguel rescued his drowning cousin from the pool he began applying Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) techniques he’d seen on television. Police Dispatcher Tatiana Viana received a 911 emergency call from the address but for some unknown reason the call disconnected before Dispatcher Viana could inquire about the nature of the call. Dispatcher Viana following the city’s 911 emergency call procedures quickly passed the hang-up call’s address to the fire department’s First Responder’s unit in which one of the city’s paramedics’ scrambled a first-out-unit to the location while a second rescue unit quickly followed.

Upon arrival the First Responders took control of what appeared to be a child drowning victim. They immediately began life saving resuscitation techniques to the child whose skin had turned blue from being submerged in water.

The paramedics using the Glasgow Comma Scale which is an evaluation of responses from victims will quickly determine the condition of someone in a comma or is semi-conscious; it was determined the victim was near death. But because of the quick work of the paramedics to remove water from the lungs and applying oxygen an improvement was noticed in the victim’s condition upon arrival at the emergency room of Hermann Children’s Hospital’s.

Joshua Jr. continued to improve and within a few hours had regained full consciousness. After a one night’s stay in the hospital for additional tests and evaluations he was released and on his way back home.

The grandfather said, “it was later determined even though our back screen door had its safety chain latched at the top my grandson managed to squeeze through the small opening to get outside to the pool”. He said the pool’s ladder is kept on the inside of the pool to prevent a child from climbing into it when not in use. He thinks the tot must have put his foot on the top of a hard plastic ring around the outside bottom of the pool to raise himself up high enough to topple into the pool.

Child Protective Services later came and visited the home and pool and decided there wasn’t any negligence from anyone which caused the accident. Even though the backyard has a high wooden fence Roger said, “the family has now removed the pool.”

The child’s dad, Joshua Matheny who’s a member of the Cloverleaf Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department thanked everyone involved for saving his son’s life.

Mayor Diaz gave a special medallion award to Cousin Miguel for his exceptional heroic acts of locating and rescuing his drowning cousin from the pool which saved the tot’s life.