Inverness couple named Heartsaver Heroes for saving 4-year-old boy at hotel pool

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The American Heart Association this morning honored an Inverness couple with a Heartsaver Hero award for saving the life of a 4-year-old boy who sunk to the bottom of a pool at Stone Mountain, Georgia, last month.

Keith and Libby Jacobson were attending a dermatology conference at Stone Mountain when a woman pulled lifeless 4-year-old Zachary Kohen from the hotel pool and tried to begin mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. But the woman wasn’t sure what to do.

Dr. Libby Jacobson, a dermatologist who had undergone CPR training, jumped out of the pool and took over, starting chest compressions. Keith, a retired Hoover fire captain, quickly joined her and started rescue breathing.

They did 30 chest compressions followed by two breaths, and after two rounds of that, color began returning to Zachary’s face. The paramedics arrived and took Zachary to the hospital for further treatment, and he was fine and off oxygen later that night.

Today, Zachary and his mother, Robyn Kohen, came from Georgia to help honor the Jacobsons for saving Zachary’s life and to spread the message about the life-saving power of CPR.

“Not everybody has such a happy ending. Because of the Jacobsons, we do,” Kohen said. “We can’t imagine that any other way, and we never want to imagine that for any other family. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.”

Keith Jacobson said he and his wife didn’t do anything that anyone else couldn’t have done. “It’s just making that first step of taking action,” he said.

He doesn’t really think the term hero applies in this situation because the real heroes are people like active firefighters who put themselves in jeopardy to save others, he said.

“There was no jeopardy for us. It was just an attempt to save an amazing little guy,” Keith Jacobson said. “Everybody should be able to take that step and jump in there to help. It’s just a question of learning a skill and putting it into action.”

Keith Jacobson said they are thankful to have met the Kohens, who are now like members of their family. “We’re just thankful, too, that we could be there to help.”

Brady McLaughlin of Trio Safety CPR+AED Solutions, which provides CPR training for the American Heart Association, presented the award to the Jacobsons on behalf of the association. He thanked them for acting courageously and quickly to offer lifesaving aid.

Many people feel helpless when confronted with an emergency like this because they don’t know how to administer CPR or are afraid of hurting the victim, McLaughlin said. But the Jacobsons “immediately did what they were trained to do” and saved Zachary’s life as a result, he said.

“Today, he stands before you as a testament of how easy it is to use your CPR skills, usually when you least expect it, to help save a life,” McLaughlin said.

CPR is a lifesaving skill that can be used anywhere and anytime and is one of the few skills for which you can take a class that doesn’t directly benefit you, McLaughlin said. And it’s most needed in people’s homes because three out of four sudden cardiac arrests that happen outside the hospital occur in people’s homes, he said.

“So it’s most important that as many people as possible learn CPR, are comfortable with CPR and stay current on the science because things change for the benefit of the patient,” McLaughlin said.

Trio Safety CPR+AED Solutions offers CPR training at its office in Homewood at 216 Aquarius Drive, Suite 309. For more information, call 440-1000.

The Hoover Fire Department also offers CPR classes the first, second and third Saturdays of each month at Hoover Fire Station No. 7 in Inverness. For more information, visit the Hoover Fire Department website or contact the CPR coordinator at woodsb@ci.hoover.al.us.