Easter weekend was more eventful than most for John Blakemore of Palm Harbor.
Blakemore told The Islander March 31 that he helped rescue a choking baby the night of March 29 during a family visit in Holmes Beach.
Blakemore, whose uncle is Holmes Beach Commissioner Dan Diggins, was visiting the Diggins residence for the holiday when the family heard commotion around 9-10 p.m. on the street outside.
Blakemore assumed the noise was caused by celebrating neighbors, but his sister-in-law went to check out the matter and soon screamed for him to come help.
People had stopped their vehicle alongside the 2800 block of Gulf Drive and were trying to flag down someone to help with a baby who was not breathing.
Blakemore, an ICU-trained nurse who works at the Mease Countryside Hospital in Safety Harbor, went into action.
After checking for an airway obstruction, Blakemore performed palm thrusts on the baby’s back — the Heimlich maneuver can damage babies’ internal organs. It resulted in the infant coughing out fluid.
Then, the girl began groaning — a sign any blockage in her airways had been cleared — opened her eyes and looked at Blakemore.
Blakemore said an emergency medical technician told him the baby’s vital signs were OK before she left by ambulance.
Blakemore said it was not the first time he had helped during medical emergencies outside the hospital and was happy to be in the right place at the right time.
“I was just glad to be nearby,” he said. “I knew what to do at that moment, so it was nice that someone like me could be around.”
Holmes Beach police Chief Bill Tokajer told The Islander April 4 that Blakemore had stabilized the girl by the time police arrived on the scene — which Blakemore said took mere minutes — to assist with Manatee County Emergency Medical Services.
EMS transported the girl to a local children’s hospital for precautionary treatment, according to Tokajer.
Authorities did not identify the child or provide details about her family.
Diggins, who called the Holmes Beach Police Department during the incident, wrote in a March 30 text to The Islander that his family toasted Blakemore afterward.
“A limp body of a tiny infant without a pulse and breath scared us all,” Diggins wrote. “John took charge and stabilized her until EMT arrived. We toasted John after — his only response was ‘That’s what I do every week in the ICU.’”