Paramedic Honored by L.A. for Rescuing a Neighbor’s Infant

Jessie Ortiz was just trying to unwind doing yard work after 24 hours on the job, when he was called on to save a Reseda infant’s life.

His success was recognized Friday in a ceremony at Los Angeles City Hall, where Fire Department leaders and Mayor Tom Bradley honored Ortiz, a paramedic at Fire Station 75 in Mission Hills, for saving young Faith Ann Blackburn from choking to death Jan. 4.

Ortiz was working in his front yard in Reseda when his neighbor, Johnnie Blackburn, came running out of her home two doors away with a child in her arms, screaming for help.

A few minutes earlier, Blackburn’s 14-month-old daughter had begun choking on a piece of toast and lost consciousness.

Although she had already called 911, Blackburn remembered meeting the paramedic a few months earlier when he moved into their neighborhood in the 6800 block of Garden Grove Avenue near Hartland Street.

“My baby wasn’t breathing and I didn’t know what else to do,” Blackburn said. “She was turning blue. I was scared that I had lost her.”

“I just dropped everything when she came up to me and thrust this baby into my hands,” Ortiz said. “The baby was extremely blue and I knew I needed to get some air into her.”

His first few attempts to get Faith breathing were unsuccessful.

“At one point I thought she was going to die,” Ortiz recalled while stroking the child’s blonde hair.

After several minutes that “seemed like hours” as he tried to revive the child, Ortiz was able to partially clear her throat enough for her to breathe slightly.

“She turned from green to purple to red,” he said.

After a few more tense minutes he was able to dislodge the food from her mouth and she regained consciousness, just as a paramedic team pulled up.

“If we hadn’t found Jessie, she wouldn’t be alive today,” Blackburn said, holding her daughter in her arms. “People these days are afraid to help other people, but we’re fortunate we found someone who wasn’t.”

Since then, Blackburn, her husband, Jim, and her 11-year-old son Jason have all learned how to give cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

“Everybody who has small children should have CPR,” she said.

Blackburn added that they can no longer count on Ortiz because he has moved away.

“Now that he’s gone, we don’t feel as safe with our babies,” she said.

Frequently, Blackburn sits awake at night and relives the whole experience.

“When I think of how close I came to losing her, I get overwhelmed,” she said.

“That day really scared me, but I know the Lord is watching over her.”