The Aurelius girl who called 911 for her father was honored by the Cayuga County Sheriff

Alivia Schroeder was recognized by the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office Thursday after calling county 911 dispatchers when her father Maison Schroeder had a seizure on November 17. She was greeted by officials and staff at the Sennett County Public Safety Building, accompanied by Maison, her sister Layla, and her grandparents Stephen and Kathy Gould.

Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck appointed Alivia as a junior deputy and presented her with a certificate.

“You are my hero,” Schenck told him.

Denise Spingler, the county’s 911 administrator, reading from a different certificate, said: “In recognition of his heroic actions in calling 911, he remained calm and provided the dispatcher with all the appropriate information to help his father. His call gave us wowed us and we are all so proud of you.”

Alivia’s eyes lit up like fireworks as Spingler gave her a red balloon that read “911” and a bag that included a Squishmallow stuffed animal, a coloring book, and crayons. The girl later spoke with Deputy Nikki Loveless, who responded to the scene, Denise Cornelius, a communications training officer with the county’s 911 center, and McKenna Loerzel, a dispatcher who is training at the 911 center. Cornelius and Loerzel, who answered Alivia’s call, praised the girl’s calm composure.

After Alivia had her photo taken with the different staff members, she and her family were taken to the 911 center, where she was introduced to other 911 dispatchers, as Schenck again called her a hero. Aliva was also able to sit in a dispatcher’s chair. Later, Alivia, holding the balloon tightly, and her family chatted with the sheriff, Spingler, Cornelius, Loveless, and Loerzel.

When Loveless was told around 11 a.m. on November 17 that a 6-year-old girl was on the line calling on behalf of her unanswered father, her heart sank, she said. Emergency medical personnel were on scene when Loveless arrived, and after Maison was transported by ambulance, she stayed with Alivia and Layla until Stephen and Kathy arrived, as Maison and her daughters had stayed with them. . Loveless praised Alivia’s response to the situation.

“Imagine being 6 years old and calm and collected. They said I was giving good information, but you still want to get there (on the scene),” Loveless said.

At one point, Alivia was asked who taught her how to call 911. She said it was her mother, Sara Green. Maison said she started having seizures as an adult and they have gotten worse over the past year. He was lying in a recliner at Stephen and Kathy’s house in Aurelius when this seizure occurred and he passed out. In a low voice, Alivia explained that when her father started having seizures, she found her father’s cell phone attached to a charger next to him.

When Cornelius and Loerzel received Alivia’s call, she told them that her father was drooling and shaking. They asked her if she was breathing and Alivia said that she was. Since she was in a recliner, the girl pressed a button that caused the chair to recline, opening Maison’s airway. Cornelius and Loerzel noted that they could hear Maison breathing on the call. She started to wake up when lifeguards arrived. Loerzel, who started the center in September, and Cornelius said that Alivia gave relevant information, such as her name, her father’s name and they said they were at her grandparents’ house and gave the name of the her grandfather.

“You were super, super strong, you knew exactly what to do and you did it,” Spingler told Alivia.

Maison said Alivia told her friends about the situation at school the next day. He praised her daughter’s intelligence and said he is “grateful every night” that Alivia possibly saved his life.

Cornelius said she was impressed by the way Alivia and Loerzel handled the situation and spoke about the importance of educating children about emergency calls, including giving dispatchers the address of where the emergency is occurring for the they are calling

“It just goes to show that people should educate their children about 911,” Cornelius said.