Ventura County Fire Department

September 22 was a typical Monday at Fire Station 32 in Newbury Park until a call came in reporting that an infant had stopped breathing. The 911 call set off a chain of events that would ultimately save the baby’s life.
Captain Rich Sauer, Engineer Cathy Schureman and Firefighter/Paramedic Jeff Golden responded to the home of Jack and Tracy Garza near the intersection of Borchard Rd. and Wendy Dr. where they met the Garza’s two day-old baby boy who had stopped breathing.

Fire department dispatchers had been giving the family of little Ryland Garza instruction on CPR over the phone, but once he arrived on scene, Firefighter Golden began caring for Ryland. The firefighters took over CPR and monitored the little boy’s condition. CPR continued in the ambulance as he was being transported to Los Robles Hospital. Before the ambulance arrived at the hospital, Ryland’s color returned and he began taking spontaneous breaths. Emergency room doctors stabilized Ryland and continued his care.

Thanks to the knowledge, hard work and dedication of all the people involved in his care, Ryland was awake, moving around and eating well by the next Sunday when he was released from the hospital.

After hearing the news that the baby was well and being released, Golden said, “I am so excited about the good news. This type of call doesn’t always have a happy ending. We don’t get calls like this very often, and they’re very stressful, but this is where the advanced life support training we do really pays off.”

The fire department’s ongoing CPR training program is administered by department nurse Katy Hadduck and every CPR save is special to her.

“Our firefighters work so hard to save lives,” she said, “and sadly, sometimes they can’t. That’s why whenever we have a successful save like this, I go to the station and make a batch of my special French toast for the crew. It’s my way of saying, ‘nice job!’”

Hadduck and the crew from Engine 32 will be joined for breakfast tomorrow morning by the Garza family, including Ryland.

“Nothing makes breakfast taste better than celebrating a life,” said Hadduck.