CADILLAC — A Cadillac pediatrician who performed lifesaving CPR on a boy during a vacation in Mexico was honored by the American Red Cross this week.
Elizabeth Rzepka-Alto, who has been practicing in Cadillac since 2005, received an award at a presentation Tuesday at Cadillac City Hall, according to a statement from the Northern Michigan Chapter of the Red Cross.
The Certificate of Extraordinary Personal Action award honors individuals who step up in an emergency and help save or sustain a life using lifesaving skills (that may or not be taught by the Red Cross Training Services).
Rzepka-Alto was on vacation at a resort in Mexico in March 2024 when she saw a boy being pulled from the pool while she was seated at dinner with her family.
The boy suffered an apparent cardiac arrest in the pool on his Minnesota family’s first day at the resort. Rzepka-Alto moved quickly and performed several minutes of CPR using chest compressions, while another guest did rescue breaths. Other resort guests, an AED and two EpiPen injections were also used to help resuscitate the boy.
Rzepka-Alto said her resuscitation efforts alone were not enough and that she was accepting the award “on behalf of a lot of people (who were involved in the resuscitation). “This isn’t just for me. This is for a group.”
The boy and his family attended Tuesday’s award ceremony.
“This took an entire team of people that we did not know who came together to save our son,” said mother Angela Selnes. “Thank you, Elizabeth for keeping our family together.”
Rzepka-Alto, who had been recertified in neonatal resuscitation a week before her vacation, advocated for learning CPR and “having the courage to use it” when needed, the statement read.