B*N*S*N4

RAF serviceman saves baby's life

A People In Defence news article

8 Mar 11

While driving to work at RAF Waddington recently an RAF Air Traffic Controller saved the life of a baby whose distraught mother flagged him down for help as her child had stopped breathing. Report by Neale Adams.

Warrant Officer Ian Phillips with baby Poppy Jane whose life he saved
[Picture: Senior Aircraftman Andy Stevens, Crown Copyright/MOD 2011]

Warrant Officer Ian Phillips, aged 50, was driving to the Lincolnshire station from his home in Grantham when he was stopped in the village of Leadenham by Kerry Vickers whose baby Poppy Jane had stopped breathing and turned 'completely blue'.

WO Phillips said:

"At first I thought I was being stopped to help with a breakdown or a puncture, but the woman told me that her baby had stopped breathing. When I saw the baby she was completely blue and lifeless."

Taking Poppy Jane in his arms WO Phillips tried various life-saving techniques that military personnel are instructed in every year as part of their 'common core skills' to revive the baby who was later found to be suffering from viral meningitis:

"I put the baby in the back of my car," he explained. "There was no air going in or coming out so she was choking on something.

"I tried mouth-to-mouth, but the technique is a lot different to that used on adults as if you blow too hard you can damage the baby's lungs. It did not work....

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