A 47-year-old officer from the National Republican Guard (GNR) saved a 19-day-old baby who was choking after the child’s mother sought help at the Tramagal security post in Abrantes. The incident occurred on June 30 and was revealed in an interview published by a regional online publication.
Ricardo Falcão, a corporal stationed at the Tramagal post, recounted, “I was receiving a complaint when someone started ringing the bell incessantly and banging on the door frantically. I immediately went to see what was happening and found two women and a man holding a baby,” he said, adding that one of the women was shouting that the baby was not breathing and was choking.
“My response was immediate. I took the baby, laid him face down on my left arm, and began giving back blows with my open right hand, in the direction of his head, with him slightly inclined so that his head was lower than the body. Even after performing this maneuver seven or eight times, the baby remained limp and started turning a purplish color. I continued the maneuver, tilting the baby’s body further and slightly increasing the force of the back blows,” he recalled. “After two or three additional blows, the baby let out a whimper and began to cry, expelling mucus through his nose and mouth. It was an overwhelming sense of relief,” he added.
Father of three, Corporal Ricardo Falcão believes that “calmness and composure” were crucial in saving the baby. Before heading to the GNR post, the child’s mother had sought help at the local health center, with the support of a neighbor, but no healthcare professionals were available at the time.
After the officer’s intervention, the baby was attended to by a team from the Emergency Medical and Resuscitation Vehicle and taken to Abrantes Hospital.
The story had additional twists. Corporal Falcão later learned that the child’s mother was a colleague. “A colleague on duty, who came to help, said to me, ‘It’s good you succeeded, poor colleague.’ I was stunned and asked, ‘What do you mean?’ He replied, ‘The baby is our colleague’s; didn’t you recognize her?’ I was taken aback because I didn’t recognize her at the time,” he explained.
Additionally, the baby shares the same name as his youngest son, who is five years old. “The doctor asked the mother what the baby’s name was, and she replied, ‘Dinis.’ Coincidentally, my youngest son, who is five, is also named Dinis. I could only think of my son…what if it had been him? Undoubtedly, it is something I will never forget. I am immensely happy to have been able to save such a tiny baby,” he concluded.
