A MILLBRIDGE family will be forever grateful to two South West Traffic officers for rushing their three-year-old daughter to hospital after she ate a poisonous plant at the Bunbury Forum shopping centre on Tuesday.
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Chloe was sitting on a bench at the centre when she ate part of a plant that was hanging over the seat.
Her mother Nikki was attending to her four-month-old sister.
Shortly after Chloe started complaining that her mouth was burning and that something was stuck in her throat.
Nikki alerted centre management and was informed that the plant was potentially harmful to young children.
The symptoms escalated as the family left the centre and Chloe became increasingly sleepy.
Shortly after Nikki placed her daughter in the car, Chloe’s eyes rolled back into her head.
Nikki headed straight for the hospital.
On the way she saw two police cars on the side of the road and immediately pulled over.
The officers realised how serious the situation was and arranged to drive the family car and provide a police escort through red lights to get to the hospital as soon as possible.
Chloe’s father Michael said one of the officers ran into the emergency department and arranged for a doctor to see to Chloe immediately.
“The other officer stayed with the car and was kind enough to remove our four-month-old from the car, place her into the pram and wheel her into the hospital,” he said.
Chloe was quickly revived in the emergency department and apart from a sore throat, has fully recovered from the frightening ordeal.
South West Traffic officer-in-charge sergeant Gerard Murphy commended his staff for their actions in an emergency situation.
“It’s just part of their job – its not a regular occurrence that police have to give a police escort to help a sick person to the hospital, but it has happened to me a couple of times when I was working in Perth,” Sergeant Murphy said.
He said although it may not have been a life or death situation, every second counted in an emergency.
"The faster that the child could get to the hospital and get first aid, the better," Sergeant Murphy said.
“Realistically police officers are not trained to the extent of paramedics but I would definitely say that if people have an emergency situation and they see police or fire fighters on the side of the road, they should pull over and get their attention."
Centre manager Vern Merchant said he was very concerned for the child and her family and the centre would launch an investigation into the incident.
