MARYSVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A 911 dispatcher in California was startled when a caller turned out to be her fiancee reporting their infant son was choking.

“Mommy mode kind of hit — like, that’s my son,” dispatcher Britney Melchor told KCRA-TV (http://bit.ly/1mDQqyG) in Sacramento on Tuesday.

“I panicked. But then I was like, You know what? I got to get him the help he absolutely needs.”

Melchor was training another dispatcher who took the call and wrote down the home address. Melchor realized it was her home and her son Maverick was the one who needed assistance.

Melchor dispatched paramedics, and the boy’s father, Robert Kimball, was able to dislodge a washer from his throat just as help arrived. Maverick is now doing fine.

The May 27 ordeal began while the 14-month-old boy was playing in a bedroom and his father was moving furniture.

Kimball said he spotted his son and knew something was wrong. Maverick was red in the face and having trouble breathing. He soon became pale.

Kimball tried to dislodge the washer but couldn’t, so he called 911.

Melchor said she learned just how important her job is.

“You’re someone’s lifeline,” she said. “You’re their guardian angel in the few seconds that you’re on the phone with them.”

Melchor is a dispatcher in Marysville, a small city about 40 miles north of Sacramento.

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Information from: KCRA-TV.

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