After hearing a mother's frantic voice on the other end of the phone, dispatcher Connie Kelson knew something was wrong.
The mother who just called 911 had returned to the bathroom to find her 11-month-old baby face down in the water and not breathing.
"She was hysterical," Kelson said. "I couldn't understand her at first, but I did get drowning out of her."
For six minutes until medical crews arrived, Kelson talked the mother through CPR, first telling her to lay the baby on its side to clear the water out of the airway. By the time rescue crews arrived the baby was breathing.
The toddler was released from Primary Children's Medical Center Tuesday night. Fire officials say Kelson likely saved the baby's life.
"We were teasing her the other day that she always seems to get the good ones," Salt Lake City fire spokesman Scott Freitag said. "She's really a great dispatcher."
Kelson estimates she's handled about five such drowning calls during her 20 years as a dispatcher.
The mother was bathing her 11-month-old and 2-year-old children in the bathtub of her North Redwood home. She took the 2-year-old out of the tub and into another room. When the mother returned, she found the 11-month-old face down in the water.
Kelson said her blood started racing when she got the call.
"You get in kind of a panic yourself but you can't let that show through," she said. "It's just always scarier with children and babies. Maybe it's just the instinct we have as women."
Kelson said she thought she sounded hysterical herself during the call, but after playing the tape back she actually sounded calm.
Dispatchers receive extensive training so they can walk callers through procedures like CPR, delivering babies and relieving cardiac arrest.
"We're the first ones they call and so we can do a lot by the time (rescue workers) get there," Kelson said.
E-MAIL: djensen@desnews.com