AKRON, Ohio (WJW) - She says she was just doing her job, but an Akron 911 dispatcher and a 5-year-old boy are being crediting with saving the child’s mother.
The frightened boy made a 911 call on January 27, from a home on Weiser Avenue on the city’s south side, when he found his mom unconscious on the floor from a heroin overdose. [READ MORE:911 dispatcher helps boy after mom overdoses]
Dispatcher Genau Nuosce answered the call.
“Is that your baby brother or sister screaming?” Nuosce asks the child on the 911 recording.
“Yeah,” the boy responds, ”I can’t make him a bottle. I don’t know how.”
On the recording, you can tell the boy is desperate to ease his two-month-old brother’s cries.
Nuosce describes her state of mind during that frantic call.
“I felt more fearful for him because of the traumatic scenario he was placed in. More than anything though, he was very brave. I was very proud of him,” she told Fox 8 News.
Calm and collected the entire time, Nuosce even walked the child through the steps of mixing formula for a bottle.
“I’m so tired. I’m afraid I’m going to stay up all night,” the boy said.
“Oh honey, you’re not going to stay up all night. We’re going to get someone to help you. You’re being so brave right now. I’m so proud of you,” Nuosce answers.
Akron Police Captain Daniel Zampelli says the entire department has been in awe of Nuosce’s actions since they first heard the recording.
“Genau kept saying how proud she was of the 5-year-old, well as a police agency and city, we have to echo that same things of her. We are so proud of the way she responded–how calm she was,” Captain Zampelli says.
Nuosce says she was only doing what she’s been trained to do, as a dispatcher, and as a mom herself.
“There are a lot of people that do jobs every single day that don’t get credit for saving people’s lives, and I’m just a small part of the big picture,” she said.
The children are now in the custody of a family member.
The mother was treated and released from the hospital. She is now charged with two counts of child endangering and one count each of drug abuse and drug paraphernalia.
Her trial is set for April.
