11/17/2009

Toddler Who Nearly Drowned Returns to Centinela Hospital to Visit with the Nurses Who Helped Save Her Life

Reign Snowden is held by her mother Unique with Centinela Hospital ER nurses Candess Crawford, R.N. and Tess Fuller, R.N.

The nurses of the busy Centinela Hospital ER were all smiles when little three year old Reign Snowden came by to visit recently with her mom. This was her second visit to the hospital and quite different from her first. On October 24th Reign was found at the bottom of a swimming pool at an Inglewood apartment complex during a friend’s birthday party. With no time to wait, Inglewood Police Officers Elias Alvarez, Ivan Chatman and Sergeant Freeman Smith immediately rushed her to the nearby ER at Centinela Hospital Medical Center.

Charge nurse Tess Fuller, R.N. was the first person to respond when Officer Alvarez came running into the treatment area. “I could see right away that she wasn’t breathing,” said Tess. “I immediately had the police officer place her on a gurney and he provided CPR while we wheeled her into one of our examination rooms.” Once there, she was joined by triage nurse Candess Crawford, R.N. who took over as the primary care nurse for the patient. Candess immediately gathered a team of five nurses and two physicians to provide care to little Reign.

Says Candess, “When she was brought to the ER, Reign was cold, not breathing and had no pulse. Most near drowning patients have only a small chance of surviving. Those that do survive often have brain damage from a lack of oxygen to the brain.” Luckily, in this situation, the doctors and nurses at Centinela Hospital Medical Center were able to stabilize Reign and prepare her for transport to a local children’s hospital for continued treatment.

Continues nurse Fuller, “It takes real effort to care for someone in Reign’s condition. Our physician Sama Borghei, M.D., nurses, therapists and support staff all performed flawlessly. I’m very proud of our ER staff. Everyone works together as a team to provide the best possible care for our patients.”  In the case of Reign, that teamwork proved vital to her outcome. Remarkably, after being brought out of a medically induced coma, she has checked out to be 100% healthy with no adverse affects from her recent experience.

During her recent visit to the ER, the nurses who took care of her crowded around to wave, say hi and give her big hugs. And while she doesn’t remember all that much from her first visit to Centinela Hospital, she does know that she has made some new friends and will always be remembered by the staff of the hospital’s ER. Her mom, however, certainly remembers that fateful day and she’s eternally grateful for the miraculous outcome.