As snow blanketed the North Fork at 10:38 p.m. on Feb. 8, Greenport Fire Department’s rescue squad took a call for an infant in distress.
According to a report, when Southold police officer Bernie Anderson and Greenport fire Lt. Sam Strickland Jr. arrived, they found the child’s father actively performing CPR. While Mr. Anderson set up the the automatic external defibrillator, the father passed the baby to Mr. Strickland, who took the infant’s pulse but found none. He then did three compressions and heard the baby try to breathe. When he turned the child over and slapped his back, the infant began to breathe on his own.
“I felt the baby was faintly breathing, and he did start getting stronger, stronger with each breath,” said Mr. Strickland. “The ambulance pulled up not too long after and I ran outside with the baby. Then we transported the baby to [Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital].”
After the incident, Greenport Fire Department Chief Albie de Kerillis had high praise for Mr. Strickland.
“As chief of the department, I couldn’t be more proud of Sam and the entire department,” he said. “Having officers of Sam’s caliber makes our job easier and he will make a fine chief, at that.”
Mr. Strickland has been a volunteer with the department for seven years, but this was a first for him.
“With the older population out here, we deal with CPR in progress and stuff like that for a lot of our elders, but never with a kid,” he said. “You kind of let your training take hold, whatever the situation may be.”
That training, combined with the assistance of the other rescue workers, contributed to the positive outcome for the infant and his family.
“Everything just lined up perfectly that night,” said Mr. Strickland. “When we got the call, me and Officer Anderson, we both ran together. He did what he had to do with getting the AED ready, the oxygen ready, as I was doing my compressions and the three back hits. We had about 12 people [in total] come to the call. When it came in during the snowstorm, I didn’t know what [outcome] we were gonna have, but it was good work by everybody.”