Icy water may have helped boy stay alive, doctor says
Tuesday, February 6, 2007 4:39 PM CST
LITTLE ROCK - The icy pond water that put a 5-year-old boy in a Little Rock hospital after he was submerged in it for more than one hour may also have helped him stay alive, a doctor who helped revive the boy says.
Barry "Tyler" Zielinski was playing on the pond Friday at his home near Van Buren, when he fell in. Family members tried to rescue the boy but the water was too cold. Sheriff's deputies arrived and used a flat-bottom boat and a dragline to locate Tyler and pull him out of the water.
Tyler was in critical condition Tuesday at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, hospital spokeswoman Ginger Daril said.
Dr. Douglas Carlson, who tended to Tyler at Sparks Regional Medical Center's emergency room in Fort Smith, said Tyler could not have survived if the pond's water was not as cold as it was.
"If you cut off (a child's) oxygen supply, damage is going to occur fairly rapidly," Carlson said. "But if you cut off oxygen and submerge him in ice water, you're lowering the oxygen demand."
Crawford County Sheriff's Deputy Aaron Beshears, who helped save the boy, said ice on the pond was one-half to three-quarters of an inch thick when Tyler fell in. The boy's older sister, mother and grandfather, a volunteer fire fighter and a county dive team member all jumped into the frigid water to rescue him but couldn't.
Carlson, three other doctors and several nurses worked for more than two hours to warm Tyler. Nurses covered him in two warming blankets, and used heat packs, heating pads and IV fluids to raise his body temperature.
Though Carlson said Tyler will likely suffer from some brain damage if he survives, the pond's cold water protected him from suffering severe damage.
"The fact that he was able to live through all of this was because he was so cold," he said.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007 4:39 PM CST
LITTLE ROCK - The icy pond water that put a 5-year-old boy in a Little Rock hospital after he was submerged in it for more than one hour may also have helped him stay alive, a doctor who helped revive the boy says.
Barry "Tyler" Zielinski was playing on the pond Friday at his home near Van Buren, when he fell in. Family members tried to rescue the boy but the water was too cold. Sheriff's deputies arrived and used a flat-bottom boat and a dragline to locate Tyler and pull him out of the water.
Tyler was in critical condition Tuesday at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, hospital spokeswoman Ginger Daril said.
Dr. Douglas Carlson, who tended to Tyler at Sparks Regional Medical Center's emergency room in Fort Smith, said Tyler could not have survived if the pond's water was not as cold as it was.
"If you cut off (a child's) oxygen supply, damage is going to occur fairly rapidly," Carlson said. "But if you cut off oxygen and submerge him in ice water, you're lowering the oxygen demand."
Crawford County Sheriff's Deputy Aaron Beshears, who helped save the boy, said ice on the pond was one-half to three-quarters of an inch thick when Tyler fell in. The boy's older sister, mother and grandfather, a volunteer fire fighter and a county dive team member all jumped into the frigid water to rescue him but couldn't.
Carlson, three other doctors and several nurses worked for more than two hours to warm Tyler. Nurses covered him in two warming blankets, and used heat packs, heating pads and IV fluids to raise his body temperature.
Though Carlson said Tyler will likely suffer from some brain damage if he survives, the pond's cold water protected him from suffering severe damage.
"The fact that he was able to live through all of this was because he was so cold," he said.