Rod Hoffman, Missouri Legislative Candidate, Saves Child's Life While Campaigning

Source: Huffington Post

Rod Hoffman, Missouri Legislative Candidate, Saves Child's Life While Campaigning

Posted: 08/16/2012 6:29 pm Updated: 08/16/2012 6:41 pm

A Missouri Democrat's unplanned stop at a house while campaigning led him to help save the life of a 2-year-old Wednesday afternoon.

Rod Hoffman, who is seeking a Saint Charles County seat in the state House of Representatives, said it was a "mistake" that led him to ring the doorbell of a house in O'Fallon, which was not on his list of "preferred voters." After he rang the bell, he heard a noise coming from inside.

"I thought I heard a scream," Hoffman told The Huffington Post Thursday afternoon. "I rang the bell again and I heard more screaming. I thought it was strange and an abuse case. A young lady came around screaming and asked me if I knew CPR. She said, 'we found our 2-year-old at the bottom of the pool'."

Hoffman knew CPR from his days as a teacher and administrator in the Fort Zumwald school system and ran to help. He saw the boy's father trying to administer CPR to the child, who was turning blue. Hoffman said the father dove into the pool to rescue the child after seeing him at the bottom.

"I took the kid inside the door; as we worked on him, his color started to improve and we kept working on him," said Hoffman, adding the child began to breath on his own after five minutes. "He started spitting up the water. After five minutes, I gave the father his son back."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/16/rod-hoffman-missouri-saves-child-pool_n_1792364.html?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec1_lnk1%26pLid%3D193624