KELLI STOPCZYNSKI, WSBT-TV, South Bend Tribune (Indiana)

Asking a complete stranger to sing “Jingle Bells,” recite the alphabet or count to 10 might seem silly and strange. But a Mishawaka 9-1-1 dispatcher did just that and more for an hour to try to keep a woman alive Wednesday after her boat capsized on Lake Michigan.

The woman, Lilia Barriga, of Mishawaka, said she was attempting to kayak 70 miles to Chicago from Harbert Beach near Sawyer, when her kayak overturned.

Two hours after that, she called her father in Mishawaka for help. He called 9-1-1, then 9-1-1 dispatcher Becky Scheibelhut called her. More than 40 miles apart, the women made a life-saving connection.

Mishawaka police released that recorded conversation Thursday.

One of the first things Scheibelhut asked Barriga during the phone call was where she was. But the woman didn’t know and said she could only see sand dunes.

Water was sloshing in the background during the entirety of the conversation.

Scheibelhut asked Barriga what happened, what she was wearing and if she was injured. She also worked with another Mishawaka dispatcher, Shelli Bosse, to contact dispatchers in Berrien County. A third dispatcher fielded other incoming 9-1-1 calls.

Fifteen minutes into the phone call, Scheibelhut continued talking to Barriga, but she wasn’t answering.

Scheibelhut is heard saying: “Are you still there Lilia? Lilia? Lilia? I can hear the water in the boat but I don’t hear her. She’s not responding now.”

“I’ve never had anything like that,” Scheibelhut later told WSBT. “I’ve never had to keep someone on the phone like that to keep them going and keep them positive and keep them awake.”

Half an hour into the call, the dispatcher had to get creative.

Barriga: I want to try to sleep.

Scheibelhut: OK, try and stay awake, OK? Do you know any songs you could try and sing to try and stay awake? I know it sounds silly but you need to try and stay awake, OK? Lilia?

Barriga: Yeah.

Scheibelhut: Do you know any songs you can sing?

Barriga: I can’t think right now.

Scheibelhut: OK, how about “Jingle Bells,” do you know “Jingle Bells?” Lilia? You have to try, OK? Try and stay awake. Want me to sing it with ya?

The two began singing and Scheibelhut did what she could to keep Barriga awake – asking about her house, family, dog and occasionally asking if she heard any boat motors or could see anything around her.

Still, she drifted in and out of consciousness while rescue teams from three townships, two states, two 9-1-1 dispatch centers and the U.S. Coast Guard tried to find her.

Then, 57 minutes into the call, Barriga told Scheibelhut she couldn’t hold on much longer.

“When she said she had to let go, she couldn’t do it anymore, my heart sank, I felt extremely powerless,” Scheibelhut said.

“She wouldn’t let me give up,” Barriga said. “Many times I’d let the boat go and I would hear her (saying), ‘Lilia, Lilia, wake up!'”

Nearly an hour after she called the woman floating in the middle of Lake Michigan, Scheibelhut heard talking in the background and she knew it wasn’t Barriga. Then, she clearly heard a man’s voice.

Scheibelhut: Who’s here? Hello?

Rescuer: Hello, is this 9-1-1?

Scheibelhut: Yes, it is, who is this?

Rescuer: This is Chikaming Fire. We’ve got her.

That voice belonged to Josh Knuth, a firefighter for the Chikaming Township Fire Department.

“God was looking out for her,” Knuth told WSBT. “It was a needle in a haystack. We found her.”

An ambulance transported her to a local hospital where she was treated for hypothermia. Barriga met Scheibelhut face-to-face Thursday.

“Thank you, thank you so much,” Barriga said, as the two women embraced outside the Mishawaka Police Department.

“I’m so proud of you,” Scheibelhut replied.

“Proud of me? I’m proud of you! I was going to let go if it wasn’t for you . You saved my life, you know?” Barriga said. “I was coming in and out (of consciousness) and every time I came out you started yelling my name and you brought me back.”

Mishawaka dispatch coordinator Brian Billingsley said Thursday he felt like “a proud papa” because of the way Scheibelhut handled the situation. She was at the end of a 15-hour shift when she received the 9-1-1 call from Barriga’s father.

Barriga said she still plans to kayak to Chicago, but next time she intends to stay closer to shore and take a friend.

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