A week after paramedics transferred a 2-year-old girl who the FDNY said had suffered a cardiac arrest to hospital during a church service in Kingsbridge Heights, the pastor of Iglesia Cristiana Tabernaculo de Gracia [The Christian Church of the Tabernacle of Grace] told Norwood News that the child was doing fine and was back at church.

 

The building where the incident took place is the Bethel Global Methodist Church, located at 3404 Bailey Avenue. However, when contacted for comment, representatives from the Methodist Church said it is currently renting out the church for Sunday services to Iglesia Cristiana Tabernaculo de Gracia and referred us to the representatives for the latter.

 

As reported, police and EMS were called to the church at 2:09 p.m. on Sunday, July 14, for reports of a cardiac arrest in progress. According to audio recordings of police radio transmission on the incident, a police officer from the 50 th  Precinct said CPR was being administered to the child, who was reportedly not breathing, when police arrived at the
scene.

 

Minutes later, an officer was heard informing his dispatch that the infant was breathing once again, and the child was transported to Montefiore Medical Center in Norwood for follow-up treatment. Meanwhile, a representative from FDNY/EMS said that emergency services were alerted to a report of a cardiac arrest on Sunday, July 14, at 2.09 p.m. at 3404 Bailey
Avenue, between West 234th Street and Bailey Place. They confirmed one patient was transported to Montefiore Medical Center and neither the patient’s condition nor their description was known.

 

On Monday, July 22, the church’s pastor, Pastor Kerlin Calderon, was asked if the baby’s medical issue had been heat-related. He replied, “Oh no! It wasn’t heat-related. The baby had a little fever, and they took her to the hospital.” Asked about the police dispatch report that the baby was unresponsive/not breathing, Calderon said, “No… Because she had some molars that are growing in the back of her mouth and because of that, the mom, she called the ambulance.”

 

Asked if CPR was administered to the child, Calderon said, “I’m not aware of those details, if CPR was administered or not. I just know I spoke to the mom before I gave you a call to see how the baby was doing. We saw [the] mom yesterday as well at the church and everybody was doing all right.”

 

Asked if it had been church congregants who had administered aid to the child on the day in question, Calderon said, “Well, I’m not privy to those details because I wasn’t there.” Asked if the child was back at church on Sunday, July 21, Calderon said, “Of
course, yes. The baby’s doing okay. The family is doing okay.” Calderon said that his church has been serving the community for the last 7 years.