FULLERTON 911 Call, Aid Earn Award for Girl, 6

A second-grader who kept her cool after her grandmother fell and broke her hip became the first recipient of the Fire Department’s outstanding citizen award Wednesday.

The honor was bestowed on 6-year-old Alice Ham during an assembly at Golden Hill Elementary School.

“We would not have been able to provide the same service without Alice’s help,” Fire Capt. Gary Dominguez told students and teachers.

Alice’s grandmother, Chae Ok Ham, 72, was watering plants outside her home last October when she fell and broke her hip. The grandmother managed to crawl into the house, but was unable to reach the telephone. Alice and her brother Alan, 4, were the only others home at the time.

Alice was smart enough to call 911, Dominguez said.

When paramedics arrived, they found that the grandmother spoke very little English and was going into shock.

Again, Alice assisted, serving as a translator for her grandmother, who spoke Korean, and paramedics.

Dominguez said his team had to communicate quickly with Chae Ham. “We had to pinpoint the pain” to determine how badly she was injured, he said.

Paramedics also needed to know whether Ham became dizzy and fell--indicating a possible stroke--or simply tripped, he said.

Alice did not know the Korean word for dizzy , so she pantomimed the two scenarios for her grandmother and established that she had tripped, Dominguez said. Alice also translated paramedics’ questions about her grandmother’s general health and medications.

“She said she was happy I was able to help her,” Alice said, as she stood next to her grandmother at the assembly.

Ham spent two weeks in the hospital, according to Alice’s mother, Sung Ham, who also was at the assembly.

Fire Chief Marc Martin said the department wants to give more awards to “a person who does just what you ought to do, but does it so well that it stands out.” He said Dominguez came up with the idea for the outstanding citizen award.

Attending Wednesday’s assembly was another Golden Hill student who could have been a recipient of the award, Martin said. Jonathan Lopez, 7, called 911 when his grandmother, a diabetic, suffered insulin shock two years ago. The woman could have died without quick help, Martin said.

Jonathan led Dominguez--who was on the first truck to arrive at the scene--to his grandmother and told him about her diabetes.

“We have had many opportunities (to bestow the award), and unfortunately, we have let them slip by,” Martin said.

The Fire Department soon plans to recognize a young man who saved another at a pizza restaurant by using cardiopulmonary resuscitation, he said.

School Principal Pat Puleo said her students are taught to communicate by speaking and listening, not just by writing essays. The emphasis on communication may have spurred Alice and Jonathan to call 911, she said.

“It makes you proud to see them responding in such a mature way,” Puleo said.

Alice’s teacher, Carol Shannon-Schneider, said the second-grader is “a take-charge type” who always strives to do her best in class.