The Story of Anne (the girl from the Seine)

   At the turn of this century, the body of a young girl was
   pulled from the River Seine in Paris. There was no
   evidence of violence and it was assumed she had taken
   her own life.

   Because her identity could not be established, a death
   mask was made, as was customary in such cases. The
   young girlâs delicate beauty and ethereal smile added to
   the enigma of her death. Romantic stories that
   speculated on this mystery were published. According to
   one, her death was the result of an unrequited romance.
   This story became popular throughout Europe, as did
   reproductions of her death mask.

   Generations later, the Girl from the River Seine would be
   rediscovered when Asmund S. Laerdal began the
   development of a realistic and effective training aid to
   teach mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He believed that if
   such a manikin was life-sized and extremely realistic in
   appearance, students would be better motivated to learn
   this lifesaving procedure. Moved by the story of the girl
   so tragically taken by early death, he fashioned her
   mask for the face of his new resuscitation training
   manikin, Resusci Anne. 

   Resusci Anne celebrated her thirty-fifth birthday in 1995.
   Inspired by The Girl from the River Seine, Resusci Anne
   has become a symbol of life to the millions of people
   throughout the world who have learned the lifegiving
   technique of modern resuscitation, and to those whose
   lives she has helped save from unnecessary death.