An off-duty RCMP officer from Nanaimo was able to save a young life after being waved down on the side of the highway on the north Island last week.

Const. Denise Laforest successfully performed CPR on a 17-month-old girl for several minutes along the Island Highway between Woss and Sayward on Aug. 30, according to a Nanaimo RCMP press release.

Laforest was driving north toward Alert Bay with her two children to meet her husband when she observed a panicked man jump out of a car holding a baby. She pulled a U-turn and stopped, and advised the baby鈥檚 father that she knew first aid.

鈥淎t that point, he basically threw the baby at me and said she鈥檚 choking and can鈥檛 breathe,鈥� Laforest said in the release.

She said the child had a 鈥渧ery weak pulse鈥� and the officer tried back blows to dislodge whatever the child might have been choking on.

鈥淭o her horror, the child did not respond and the pulse could no longer be found,鈥� noted the release. 鈥淪he realized at this point that the child may die.鈥�

Laforest started CPR, alternating between mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and finger compressions on the baby鈥檚 chest.

After several minutes, the baby started wheezing and once her airway was cleared, started to cry.

鈥淐ollectively, it was the most beautiful sound we had ever heard,鈥� Laforest said.

The release noted that 鈥渨hat followed were many heartfelt hugs and tears.鈥� The baby鈥檚 parents drove to a clinic in Woss and then to a hospital in Campbell River where the baby was discharged with a clean bill of health that evening.

The family had arrived on Vancouver Island via the ferry from Prince Rupert and had been travelling south when the emergency happened in a cellular dead zone.

鈥淭hey told Const. Laforest the first thing they plan on doing upon their return home is to enrol in an emergency first aid course,鈥� the release noted.

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