Tampa girl, 6, honored for life-saving 911 call

Hillsborough County sheriff's Deputy Jerry Carey holds the door open for Siara Ford, 6, a first-grader at Mendenhall Elementary as she arrives for school Friday morning. [Carrie Pratt, Times]

TAMPA -- Siara Ford arrived at school to a hero's welcome this morning before standing before a rowdy grade-school auditorium and accepting a teddy bear wearing a cowboy hat and shiny badge.

"It's not every day we get top be in the presence of a real hero," Hillsborough County Sheriff's Capt. Robert Bullara told the crowd at Mendenhall Elementary School.

Ford, 6, called 911 after her grandmother Carol Barlow didn't wake up from an early afternoon nap Saturday.

"My nana's on the bed, and she won't answer me," Siara tells dispatcher Tesha Larese. "She just told me she was going to eat, she was going to go to sleep and then wake her up at 11:30. Then I did, I tried to show her my power thing and she all did was just sit, sit there and sleep."

Larese: "Uh-huh, well that's good. Maybe she's just not feeling well."

Earlier that day, the two were supposed to bake a pan of sugar cookies. But Crawford, 49, fell into a
diabetic coma and couldn't be woken up. Siara saw her grandmother drooling and "making funny faces" that made the first-grader cry.

"And when I ask her a question, she just doesn't say anything."

Larese: "Yeah, maybe she's just not feeling well. You did good calling."

Over the next 25 minutes, Larese, an 11-year veteran of the sheriff's communications center, guides Siara with a series of questions about the apartment complex that eventually leads emergency workers and paramedics to her grandmother's place.

Ford had questions, too: Are they going to give her shots at the hospital? How do doctors at the hospital make the people that are sick wake up?

Paramedics would later tell Barlow she could have died without her granddaughter's help.

"I don't remember what happened," Barlow said today. "She just did what she had to do."

This morning, with about 80 of her classmates lined up single file on a stretch of pavement, Siara arrived in a special Sheriff's Office Volkswagen Beetle behind a shiny, loudly-whooping Sheriff's Office motorcycle.

Classmates offered hugs, teachers offered praise and her parents beamed with pride.

Her grandmother planned a party, complete with sugar cookies.

- Casey Cora, Times staff writer

Tesha Larese, a senior dispatcher with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, hugs Siara Ford after a presentation for Siara. [Carrie Pratt, Times]

Comments

[james]

how did it save her life

[fairplay]

they will "escort Ford?"

But, in all seriousness, Good, quick thinking Siara! Saving the life of a family member or anyone, deserves the highest accolade.

Bless you and those that taught you what to do.

[Amanda]

"How did it save her life?" Seriously? She was in a diabetic coma! If that little girl hadn't had the wherewithal to call 911, who knows how long it would have been before her nanna got medical attention!

Great job, Siara. I'm very proud of you!

[Michelle]

This story brings tears to my eyes. I applaud this little girl for her bravery and maintaining her composure. She is definitely a hero. Her parents and grandmother are doing a remarkable job raising her.

[Michelle]

I would also like to commend the dispatcher for the professional, patient way she handled the call. I have seen too many stories lately about children's calls to 911 not being taken seriously. Kudos to the dispatcher.