Cook County boy gets help when mom falls on ice

Five-year-old Aidan Franklin knew something was wrong with Mommy even before she fell on the ice and wouldn't wake up.

His mother, Megan Blanchette-Rice, has been suffering from severe stomach pains that her doctors are still trying to figure out. It was especially bad Monday, and as she went to retrieve Aidan from the school bus after morning kindergarten, she could barely walk.

Then she passed out on ice and couldn't even do that.

With Blanchette-Rice briefly unconscious and unable to move, Aidan shouted for her to wake up. As she came to, still groggy, he fished her phone out of her pocket and dialed 911.

Then, knowing his 2-year-old sister Zoe was still upstairs in their apartment at Salem Walk - just outside Prospect Heights and Wheeling - he went to find a neighbor to check on Zoe and contact his father, Michael Rice.

Aidan, speaking later during a visit to his grandparents in Schaumburg, said he was scared but knew to get help and find an adult.

Not seriously injured, Blanchette-Rice, who grew up in the Hanover Park and Schaumburg areas, was taken to Glenbrook Hospital to treat bruises. A neighbor watched the kids until Rice got home.

Blanchette-Rice said she couldn't be prouder of Aidan, who she said has attention-deficit disorder. She hopes all the positive attention he's been getting will have a lasting effect.

She also credits the Officer Friendly and Glenview Fire Department educational programs conducted at Glenview's Winkelman School, where Aidan is a student, for teaching him the right thing to do in an emergency.

"We took him out to a nice dinner" to reward him, Blanchette-Rose said, adding her son's been sharing the story with family and friends. "This is something he's very proud of."

Teaching kids what to do in emergencies

Arlington Heights Fire Department Public Education Officer Vic Tamosaitis offers these guidelines:

• Education can begin as early as preschool, when children start to learn what emergencies are.

• In the case of a fire, the No.-1 lesson for small children is "stay low and go," stressing that getting out of the building is most important of all. Families should devise and practice escape routes.

• By kindergarten, kids can usually grasp how to dial 911; the main lesson is teaching when to do so and when not to - an argument with a sibling being an example of the latter.

• In a medical emergency, the first thing a child should be taught to do is find an adult.

• Children should be advised to dial 911 if the adult responsible for them is in trouble, or if there's no adult present and they're uncertain about a situation, or a situation feels out of control.