Library: News Release
Phone: (405) 522-3731, Fax: (405) 522-3146
e-mail: Mark.Beutler@OKDHS.org
OKLAHOMA CAPITOL -- Something inside told Marietta Sousis to stop at the apartment complex that day. The registered nurse from Payne County OKDHS was thinking of moving, and The Links seemed to fit all her needs.
The office was about to close, but Marietta decided to stop anyway.
“I was talking to the apartment complex staff when a woman came inside, saying a baby was choking,” Marietta said. “I asked where the baby was, and she said it was outside. I ran out of the office and saw the mother standing beside her open car door, holding her baby, turning her side to side.”
The next few moments were a blur. Marietta ran down the sidewalk to get to the mother and her baby, when she slipped and fell. A woman nearby was calling 911, and asked Marietta if she was okay.
“I felt some pain in my right ankle, but I told this woman to just please help get me to the baby, because I’m a nurse. The lady helped me up and I hobbled over to the mother and her child.
“I noticed the baby’s color was good and she was making some whimpering sounds, which told me she was getting some air. The mother gave me the baby and I administered three sharp blows between the shoulder blades,” Marietta said.
“Still nothing was coming out, so I calmly said ‘well, that didn’t work.’ I then slid my forefinger and thumb in each side of her mouth to keep it open and sweep, while lowering the baby face-downward.”
That seemed to work. A white Lifesaver fell out of the baby’s mouth and onto the ground.
“Instantly I felt these little teeth clamp down on my fingers,” Marietta said. “I asked the mother if she could instruct the baby to let go, and she did. The mother was tearful, shaking all over--and extremely grateful. I held them both in my arms and told her emergencies like this are a rite of passage with motherhood.”
As the emergency team arrived and began checking the baby, Marietta says she gradually became aware of the intense pain in her ankle. But her work wasn’t finished. She continued to talk to the young mother and make sure she and her baby were going to be all right.
“I apologized to the baby for hitting her on the back, but she just kept her little mouth closed tight and looked at me with her pretty blue eyes. The mother and I exchanged information and agreed to talk again under better circumstances. Her name is Allison, and her daughter’s name is Blakely.”
Meanwhile, the pain in Marietta’s right ankle was intensifying. The folks at the apartment complex brought her an ice pack, which seemed to help a little.
The paramedics offered to take her to the emergency room, but she declined.
“My daughter was with me in her wheelchair, we were both hungry and I didn’t think it was that serious,” she said.
After dinner, however, the pain worsened. A trip to an urgent-care clinic indicated that in her rush to save the baby’s life, her fall had resulted in a broken ankle.
“I just did what I had to do,” Marietta said. “I think back on that day and remember how a blanket of calmness came over me as I was working on the baby. My hands were steady, my voice was calm and I was saying everything I was going to do as I did it to help calm the child’s mother.
“I know I wasn’t alone. The lady who called 911 and helped me up after I fell was talking to me about how it was a “God thing” that I happened to be there at that time. I am so grateful to have helped Blakely. Bones heal, but Blakely may not have.”
(Editor’s Note: Marietta Sousis will appear before the OKDHS Commission in October to be presented with a special “Director’s Award” for her heroic actions).
###
