Give me a sign: 10-year-old girl honoured for helping deaf accident victim

On Monday, 10-year-old Yesenia Diosdado was honoured for saving the day with her knowledge of sign language.

Earlier this month, Yesenia was outside playing with her friends when she heard a car crash.

She went to check it out, and saw paramedics struggling to communicate with a woman trapped in her car.

When Yesenia saw that the woman was trying to sign to the crew, she ran over to offer her assistance to the medics.

“She looked really hurt. Her face was bleeding and I didn’t want her to die or something. She was really hurt,” she recalled.

"I saw that she was signing, so I decided to go help," Yesenia, whose mother taught her to sign, told KMBC. “I was really nervous.”

The woman was able to tell Yesenia about her injuries and what hospital she wanted to go to. Yesenia then relayed the information to the paramedics.

Without Yesenia’s translation, paramedics would have taken longer to get the woman the help she needed, said Johnson County Med-Act Captain Chris Winger.

“She said, ‘I sign. Can I help?’ And I was floored. I didn’t know what to say initially because this doesn’t really happen at all,” Winger told Fox 4 News.

"We would not have been able to establish what her injuries were without significant delays of having to establish another means of communication," Winger told KCTV.

On Monday, Winger surprised Yesenia with a medal for her bravery and certificate of thanks at Rising Star Elementary School in Lenexa, Kansas.

"It was awesome," Winger said of Yesenia’s response to the accident. “(It’s) kind of nice in today’s world to have someone so young have such a huge impact.”

"I have always explained to my kids, even if you never use it, the importance of sign language. It is everywhere," Yesenia’s mother, Susan Mulidore, said of teaching her four children to sign.

"Just knowing the simple alphabet of sign language can be a huge benefit especially in a situation like this.”

The deaf woman has since fully recovered from her injuries.