The two women didn’t know it at the time, but they shared several similarities.

“Nothing,” Filipiak said, panic rising in her voice, as she followed Nelson’s directions.

Both women were mothers.

“Place your fingers right where you were at,” Nelson said into the phone. “You’re ready to go?”

Both had two living, breathing children.

“Yes,” Filipiak said. “I’m already at 10 but … ”

Without missing a beat, Nelson picked up the tempo as she helped Filipiak revive her 3-week-old son.

“Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen,” Nelson said.

Each number was repeated in the same strong, firm tone acquired in Nelson’s eight years of working at the East Lansing Police Department 911 call center. She delivered the CPR instructions in a calm, clear voice, but this particular call hit close to home.

Although Nelson and Filipiak each had two children who were breathing, the latter also had a third child who was not. Nolan Filipiak had taken his last breath about five minutes prior to the call. It would take 87 more chest compressions and almost two minutes before Nolan, his face red, would let out a cry and take his next breath. And keep breathing.

On Tuesday afternoon, Nelson was honored at a Lifesaving Award Ceremony in the East Lansing Police Department Squad Room, 409 Park Lane.

“I’m honored to be where I am,” Nelson said, “I love being a dispatcher and seeing the true results of my job.”

Life line

At 7:30 a.m. Feb. 16, Jesse Cory was in the middle of an English muffin with peanut butter, blueberries and coffee when the phone rang.

Cory, who had been training at the East Lansing Police Department to become a dispatcher since November, had worked with Nelson for three weeks.

“She’s a great trainer,” Cory said. “She excels at what she does.”

Cory, who answered the phone, said Filipiak sounded upset and asked for an ambulance. After asking some basic questions and recording Filipiak’s location, Cory handed the call over to Nelson.

Miles away in Okemos, Filipiak had noticed her youngest looking “gray” that morning. Filipiak said she decided to first get her two daughters ready for school and day care and left Nolan with her husband, Jasen, who was getting ready for work.

“I figured I would get my kids off and then take him to the doctor or the hospital,” she said.

Minutes later, her husband told her Nolan had stopped breathing.

Nolan had Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection, or RSV, a cause of bronchiolitis that can make breathing difficult in infants. About 1 percent of infants who contract RSV stop breathing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Filipiak said Nolan spent five days in the hospital and has been “perfect ever since.”

“I’m just humbled,” Filipiak said. “Life was spared and given back to him.”

A day in dispatch

Life-saving awards, such as the one Nelson received Tuesday, usually are presented by the East Lansing Police Department in a January ceremony. However, the department decided to hold a special ceremony in honor of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, which honors 911 dispatchers.

“We’re here to help them as much as we possibly can,” said Capt. Kim Johnson. “It’s part of her training, and (Nelson) performed it exceptionally in this case.”

Jasen Filipiak said Tuesday was the first time he listened to the 911 call.

“You can hear things in the background,” he said. “It was beyond what you would refer to as multitasking. I can’t believe how well (Nelson) held it all together.”

The job of a 911 dispatcher often falls into monotony. Employees work 12-hour shifts in the police department’s basement, taking calls about parking tickets and towed cars.

“To save a child’s life doesn’t happen very often,” Johnson said.

Despite the routine, Nelson knew important calls would come.

“It’s always in the back of your mind,” she said. “That’s why we’re really here.”

A week prior to Michelle Filipiak’s call, Nelson completed a required training dispatch session giving her an opportunity to brush up on her emergency response skills. There was no particular reason the training session occurred the week before Michelle Filipiak’s call, but Nelson said it allowed the information she needed to be fresh in her mind.

“Her call came to our center for a reason,” Nelson said. “Nolan is still here for a reason.”