ROCKLAND, Maine — A Rockport woman was honored Monday by the Rockland Police Department for her role in saving a 9-year-old boy who nearly drowned last month at Chickawaukie Lake.
During a brief ceremony at the police station, Raeanna Fraser was given a “Challenge Coin” by the Rockland Police Department for performing CPR on the boy during the July 28 incident.
Fraser told the BDN Tuesday that she, her husband Scott Fraser and their son Jesse arrived at Johnson Memorial Park, the city-owned beach at Chickawaukie, shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday. The family lives near Chickawaukie, and their son wanted to go swimming after playing basketball at Camden Hills Regional High School in Rockport, she said Tuesday.
As soon as the family pulled into the parking lot, Jesse saw people running toward the boat dock at the lake and said it appeared someone was drowning. Raeanna Fraser, who was driving, said it was dusk and she could see outlines of people and someone bringing something to shore. She turned off the car and ran over to the dock.
The boy was not breathing and his face was blue. She took his pulse and detected none.
Fraser, who works at Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport, has been a respiratory therapist for 27 years and has performed CPR multiple times in a hospital setting.
She said the boy began breathing slightly in the first round of chest compressions, but he still had no pulse. In the second round, his breathing improved, he began spitting out large amounts of water and he regained a pulse.
“At first, I was thinking this was not going to work,” Fraser said. But she pointed out that the boy had been laid out on the dock, which was ideal for chest compressions because of its firm surface.
She said it was a chaotic scene with a lot of screaming and crying. She said she focused on the job at hand, and her husband tried to calm down the other people.
Rockland emergency medical services arrived and continued the CPR. The boy was taken to Pen Bay and then Maine Medical Center in Portland.
The boy’s father said his son was doing fine the day after the near drowning.
On Friday, Aug. 5, Chief Bruce Boucher and Deputy Chief Christopher Young met with the man who entered the water and pulled the young boy out and onto the dock. He also was presented with a letter of appreciation and a Challenge Coin, but he and his family wished to remain anonymous and his wishes were honored.
On Monday, during the presentation to Fraser, Boucher said “today, more than ever before, our community’s first line of defense needs our citizen’s willingness to become involved. A safe community is not a spectator sport. Everyone needs to get involved. The city of Rockland is grateful that you were willing to get involved.”
The boy’s father had told the BDN that his girlfriend was with a younger child and the boy, who is a special needs child with the mental age of a 1½-year-old. The 9-year-old had been secured in the car when the younger child ran off and the girlfriend chased after him. When she returned, the 9-year-old was not in the car.
That is when the man, who is not being identified, saw the boy in the water and went in to get him.