Three-year-old Georgia girl works out how to dial 911 and saves her injured dad

She’s just turned four years old, but last week when she was still three, Elisha Powers from Rockland County in Georgia saved her father’s life by unlocking his cell phone and calling 911.

Elisha’s father Shawn Powers was in the family’s back garden with his machete cutting up a tree that had been downed by an ice storm.

“I grabbed the top. And I swung twice and I kind of looked away for a second. Something caught my attention and when I looked back…”

He accidentally cut his arm near the wrist, artery nerves and tendons. Alone with his daughter, he sat on the porch trying to stop the bleeding and was unable to pick up the cell phone.

“I pressed nine and one and one.”

“I put it in daddy’s ear and he talked to the police, and then I was crying. And then I was really brave.”

“I have two little girls with me in there. They’re pretty scared.”

“OK.”
“My three-year old is actually holding the phone for me. I couldn’t call.”

When the ambulance arrived, Shawn received emergency care. Back at home now with his family, he recalled his daughter’s actions that day.

“I remember her saying, I don’t wanna lose my daddy. I don’t wanna lose my family. It’s like, she knew this is a way that she could help me.”

According to doctor, Shawn’s arm should fully heal in six to eight months.

Difficult words: 911 (emergency phone number in the United States), machete (big heavy knife), to down (to fall), swing (move to hit), ice storm (storm with snow and ice), artery nerves (important veins for blood to flow), tendon (cord which attaches a muscle to a bone), recall (remember).