8-week-old Nikita is recovering at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario after going into cardiac arrest Thursday.
Ottawa Paramedics said the quick thinking of bystanders and paramedic dispatchers helped save the baby's life.
The little boy stopped breathing while his parents were driving along St. Laurent Blvd. near Innes Rd. in the St. Laurent and Belfast area. Multiple bystanders nearby noticed and rushed over to help.
When 9-1-1 was called, the Paramedic dispatcher provided CPR coaching over the phone to the first bystanders on site. Soon after a pair of strangers who knew CPR arrived and resuscitated the little boy.
"I saw the baby's head was down, arms down, and my reaction was stop the car and run, and when I come, the baby was completely purple," said Geraldina Carvalho, a support worker from the Perley Rideau Veterans Health Centre, who has first aid training.
Carvalho started to perform CPR until David McEvoy, a bylaw officer for the city of Ottawa who teaches CPR on the side, arrived and took over.
"Again I ventilated, and started CPR with two fingers... at that point I looked at the chest and noticed it was rising and falling," he said.
Meanwhile, one of the bystander had taken off to get help from firefighters, who were a few blocks away. Two officers returned with an infant sized bag-valve-mask, and began providing oxygen to the little boy.
Paramedics arrived on scene shortly after, and the baby was rushed to CHEO in serious condition.
The child is now doing okay.
Carvalho and McEvoy are stressing the important that knowing CPR played in this rescue.
First aid and CPR courses are provided through the City of Ottawa.
