Staff at Richard Flanagan Associates, Knotts Lane, Canterbury, saved a baby's life when it stopped breathing.

by Alex Claridge
A baby whose heart had stopped was brought back to life by a dentist's team - who had only been trained in first aid a week earlier.

Mum Agnes Wrodarczyk, 33, was at home in Canterbury’s King Street with 10-month-old Henry earlier this month when he appeared to have a seizure.
His breathing and heart had stopped.

In a panic, Agnes and partner Adrian Littler, 43, took Henry to the Richard Flanagan and Associates dental practice in Knotts Lane.

Staff performed emergency CPR on him and managed to revive him after a few frantic minutes.
Agnes said: “We thought he was dead.

“He had stopped breathing we couldn’t feel a pulse – he looked dead.
“Within 30 seconds I was in the dentist’s screaming for help. I was just shocked by what was happening.”

As if by some twist of fate, staff at the dentist’s had only attended a first aid course the week before.

Dentist Richard Flanagan and nurse Michelle Kennett opened up a first aid kit and began to push down on Henry’s chest to restore oxygen to his body.

Paramedics arrived and Henry was taken to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, where he spent the night.

It is believed he may have stopped breathing because of a virus and after a temperature the night before.

“Apparently this sort of thing happens to about one child in 30,” said Agnes, who works as a recruitment consultant.

"we thought he was dead.
he had stopped breathing we couldn’t feel a pulse"
– mum agnes wrodarczyk

“We are extremely grateful to staff at the dentist’s and as far as we are concerned they saved Henry’s life.”

Adrian works as an IT consultant and originally comes from The Wirrall. He met Agnes 15 years ago when he came to Canterbury to study at Kent University and while she was here learning English.

Jo Flanagan, the practice manager at Richard Flanagan, was at work when Agnes rushed in clutching baby Henry.

She said: “It was just an ordinary day when she came in with her baby in a very distressed state and people soon realised something was wrong.

“It was very sudden for everyone, but we all have comprehensive first aid training.

“We managed to get the baby breathing again and the ambulance was called, but it was down to the speedy response of our team that he survived.

“You just don’t expect something like this to happen, but it really is at the end a very happy story.”