Baby Saved at Roadside
On November 18, Const. Ivan Yeung attended a call for a baby in distress at University Ave. and Richmond St. W.
Rob Scheinberg was taking his son Liam, who had spent months in hospital with his twin sister, Elise, after being born prematurely, for a doctor’s appointment when he noticed he had stopped breathing. He called 9-1-1.
“I was at Dundas St. and University Ave. when the call came in,” said Yeung. “When I got there, I saw a baby lying on the sidewalk and the fists appeared to be clenched tightly. As I got closer, I realized the chest wasn’t moving and the baby wasn’t breathing.”
Yeung performed CPR on the young boy for about 90 seconds before firefighters and paramedics arrived and transported Liam to the Hospital for Sick Children for treatment.
The officer credited his training, even channelling the words of Training Sgt. Oliver Febbo who retires at the end of this month.
“The training I got from him was in my head the whole time,” he said, of giving the delicate child chest compressions. “I just could hear him telling me to use your fingers to push down on his chest. I heard him telling me ‘you have to save that baby.’ I just did what he taught me at the Toronto Police College.”
Every Toronto Police Officer is trained in First Aid and requalify regularly.
Go to Toronto Sun story/video
The boy’s parents are eternally grateful to Yeung who visited the family home on December 20.
“Liam had a heart procedure and we have been through so much,” Liam’s mother Danielle Scheinberg told the Toronto Sun as the parents held their now five-month-old children. “We thought everything was OK now. I was here at home and suddenly Rob (her husband) called me panicking and sent me pictures with Liam and about 10 doctors around him.
“Hearing what the Toronto Police Constable did and all the police units and how you did the CPR and the Fire Department came together with the police and blocked off the street and just worked together so beautifully to save my son’s life, I can’t thank you guys enough. It could have been the worst day of my life. But at the end of the day, it was the best day of my life.”
This is the second time in four months that Yeung has averted a crisis.
He and Const. Chally Phan, who both joined the Service 10 months ago, were riding together around 4.30 a.m. on August 3 when they received an unknown trouble call at Harbourfront Centre.
A female was in the water and unresponsive when they arrived on the scene.
Yeung, who was a lifeguard, jumped into the water to help rescue the woman.
