One day in April 2014, Danci Underwood was at home with her father and younger sister.
Their father, Dave Underwood, was asleep on the couch in their Redmond home, but when Danci tried to wake him up, he would not respond. He had gone into cardiac arrest.
Danci, who was 7 years old at the time, went to a neighbor’s house to get help, but no one was home. She then tried to call her mother, but she did not pick up the phone. So Danci, now 8 years old, then did something she learned from her mother.
“She told me if there’s an emergency, call 911,” said the third-grader from Rose Hill Elementary School in Kirkland. “I told (the dispatcher) that something’s wrong with my dad, ‘Can you please help me?’”
FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS
Margaux Lallas, the NORCOM 911 dispatcher who answered Danci’s call, gave her a number of instructions. She told the girl to find a piece of mail in the house for their address so she could send first responders. Lallas also told Danci to unlock the front door so they could get into the house when they arrived. After that, she asked the girl to hold the phone up to her father’s mouth to hear his breathing and then gave Danci step-by-step instructions on how to perform hands-only CPR until first responders arrived.
Lallas said she and Danci counted together the number of chest compressions the girl did until the paramedics arrived. They counted up to about 135.
“She did everything right,” Lallas said about Danci. “She was as calm as can be.”
While Danci was following Lallas’s directions, her younger sister Daela Underwood, who was 4 at the time, got scared and hid in a bathroom.
Their mother Nancy Underwood was at work, about 20 minutes away from their home at the time. She said when she received a call from the police, they just told her there had been some sort of medical emergency at her house. She didn’t know if one of her daughters was hurt or if it was her husband.
When she learned how Danci had remembered to call 911 just as she had reminded her to do in an emergency, Nancy said she was very proud of her.
A GRATEFUL PARENT AND DESERVING DAUGHTER
After the call, Lallas said she wasn’t sure what had happened to Dave as dispatchers can’t follow up with any of the 911 calls they receive. But that doesn’t mean she wasn’t eager to find out how Dave had fared.
“It was an emotional call for me,” Lallas said.
On Jan. 23, she got the opportunity to find out what had happened after she got off the phone with Danci as the young girl was recognized during a school assembly at Rose Hill for helping to save her father’s life. Lallas, as well as the first responders who answered the call, attended the assembly to see Danci be honored.
Upon meeting Danci, Lallas told her, “You’re probably the best 911 call I’ve ever had. Can you believe that?”
She said this was because “kids call it how it is” when dispatchers ask questions and give instructions. Lallas said adults can sometimes get nervous, get distracted or begin telling stories.
In response, to Lallas, Danci thanked the dispatcher for helping her, adding that “it was cool” to meet her.
For Dave, who only spent 24 hours at EvergreenHealth in Kirkland following the episode, he is grateful for everyone — from his daughter to Lallas, to the first responders — who helped save his life.
“It’s just nice to be here,” he said.
He said his daughter, who will also receive a 2015 Red Cross hero award in the youth division later this year, deserves the honors and recognition she has been receiving.
HAPPY FAMILY
Dave has no recollection about what had happened in April and said when he learned about his oldest daughter’s actions, he was not necessarily surprised and is extremely proud and grateful she acted instead of froze under pressure.
He also commended Lallas and her professional abilities to communicate with someone as young as Danci.
“She knows how to work with someone Danci’s age and that tells me she can work with people at any age,” Dave said.
His wife agreed.
“I’m just so grateful,” Nancy said about how events unfolded. “This is the best ending.”
