Security Guard Revives Girl Who Stopped Breathing

LAWRENCE, Kan. — KMBC.com

A security guard for Nebraska Furniture Mart is talking about the importance of CPR training after helping save a 1-year-old girl who stopped breathing.

Mark Warren, of Lawrence, said he was only doing what he was trained to do.

“Having somebody trained on the spot makes all the difference in the world,” said the retired Lawrence police sergeant who now works part-time as a security guard.

Warren was working the weekend before Thanksgiving when he was called on to use his CPR training on a 1-year-old girl who had stopped breathing while in the store. the child was blue and her family was panicked.

“I could see the father was pretty upset and the baby appeared to be not breathing,” Warren said.

KMBC’s Bev Chapman reported that surveillance video from inside the store shows Warren taking control of the situation, calling for emergency help and beginning rescue breathing on the little girl.

“I’ve performed CPR in the field before, but probably not as unique a situation as this one was,” Warren said.

Warren said it did not take long for the girl to resume her breathing, but it probably seemed like a lifetime for her parents and extended family, who stood by helpless. A nurse in the store came to monitor the baby. By the time the ambulance arrived, the girl’s normal color was beginning to return and she was breathing.

Warren said it all happened so fast, it didn’t hit him what he had done until he got a chance to see the video during an awards observance this month. After 31 years in public safety, he said these kinds of rescue attempts don’t always turn out so good; this one was perfect.

Chapman reported that Warren received a life-saving citation — the first ever given out in the company. Warren believes the credit goes to the training. the security staff at the store recently received CPR re-certification when the child collapsed.

Most popular stories at KMBC