[chris]

A Palm Coast grandmother and a Flagler County 911 dispatcher are credited with reviving a 2-year-old girl who was pulled unresponsive from a backyard swimming pool in July 2013.

Alicia Fennell called 911 shortly after 6 p.m. on July 13 from a home on Zollinger Place, off Belle Terre Boulevard, telling the dispatcher that her granddaughter had gone under the water and was not breathing, according to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office. The child's eyes were closed and her tongue was out. "She was swollen. She was bloated," Fennell later recalled.

The call reached Genice Caccavale, an 11-year veteran of the sheriff's communications center. "Listen to me, I'm going to tell you what to do, OK?" Caccavale told the panicked grandmother, according to a recording of the call.

Over the next several minutes, Caccavale walked Fennell through cardiopulmonary resuscitation, directing her to lay the child on a hard surface, tilt the head back, pinch the nose and deliver rescue breaths before starting chest compressions. About four minutes into the call, Fennell reported that the girl was responding. "She tried to cough, ma'am," she told the dispatcher.

Paramedics arrived moments later and took the toddler to Florida Hospital Flagler. She was transferred to a Jacksonville pediatric unit overnight for observation and released in good condition, authorities said.

Fennell credited the dispatcher with keeping her focused. "I couldn't have done it no other way," she said. "She was very calm, she was very patient." Caccavale said meeting the family afterward was unusual for her line of work. "We usually don't know what happens at the end of a call," she said.

In October 2013, Sheriff Jim Manfre named Caccavale the agency's civilian Employee of the Quarter, citing her handling of the call. "The residents of Flagler County should be extremely proud of each of these men and women and for the service they provide to our community," Manfre said.