Saved a Life Today
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (118827)
Gainesville, Florida
July 8, 2016 2:42pm CST
We had an incident this morning at one of our municipal swimming pools, in which a young child became unresponsive in the water. I happened to be at the pool picking up paperwork when one of the lifeguards blew his whistle and activated the Emergency Action Plan (EAP), and so I instinctively jumped into action immediately.
The child was pulled from the water and was foaming at the mouth. Upon conduction a primary assessment, we found that the child was not breathing and had no pulse. We immediately began CPR and rescue breathing on the child, and while two of us attended to the victim, the remaining lifeguards performed their tasks as designated by our EAP plan (calling 911, clearing the pool, opening the side gate for EMS personnel, bringing the spinal backboard, AED and First Aid kit to the primary responders).
Fortunately, a fire station is located across the street from the pool, so the EMT's raced across the parking lot in response while the firefighters and paramedics drove the firetruck and ambulance to the side gate.
During CPR, the victim began to breath again on their own just as the EMT's arrived, and although still in bad shape, was at least alive with a heart beat and a pulse when transported to the hospital.
This was only the second time in my career that I had to perform a primary rescue on a drowning victim, and the lifeguard that responded first on the rescue had just became certified and started working with us about a week ago. He performed flawlessly during the entire ordeal, although he was very shaken up afterward.
Thankfully, our organization takes good care of our employees, and this lifeguard will be given several days off with pay so that he can recover from the incident. On Monday, we will bring in a counselor to meet with each of the staff members involved in the ordeal to make sure they are okay emotionally before we put them back out on the lifeguard stand.
I'm proud of the way my staff performed today, and although I'm always getting on to them about one thing or another, today they all proved their worth during a live emergency.
14 people like this
16 responses
@LovingMyBabies (85127)
• Valdosta, Georgia
8 Jul 16
Geez I cannot imagine, that had to be so scary. I am glad they did what they were supposed to do though-it saved a life. Thank God even though I'm certified I have never had to use CPR, I have only had to use the heimlich before and that was hard enough.
5 people like this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Jul 16
Thankfully, we give our lifeguards more advanced training than just the basic lifeguard certification, so they are also trained in using BVM's and Oxygen, which when used in conjunction with CPR and rescue breathing, increases the chances of success in resuscitating a victim. In this case, the child was foaming at the mouth when pulled out of the water, so the BVM was able to suck all that foam out of the victim's lungs and airways to give a clear path for the rescue breathing.
3 people like this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Jul 16
@Genipher Wow, I'm glad to hear that your daughter is okay! Nothing is scarier to a parent than witnessing something horrible happen to their child. I'm glad yours had a happy ending!
2 people like this
@Genipher (5405)
• United States
8 Jul 16
@moffittjc
Thankfully my husband knew what to do. And noticed she had a problem. Because I thought she was just being silly, like she often is.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
9 Jul 16
@moffittjc I have to agree, whereas mine are well beyond their use by date.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
9 Jul 16
@moffittjc The bones will be brittle at a young age. Whenever such incidents occur people insist on crowding around and complicating matters.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Jul 16
@Asylum The bones of children are more brittle, but they're also more flexible, and heal faster. The kid will most likely be up on his feet and back to enjoying his summer in no time!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Jul 16
Definitely! I'll send you a PM with my contact info.
1 person likes this
@KristenH (33363)
• Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
9 Jul 16
@moffittjc Thanks Jeff. Talk about perfect timing too. I got your PM. I'll email you tomorrow.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Jul 16
Because of privacy laws, unless the parents contact us to let us know the full story, we'll never know exactly what happened to the child or what occurred after the child was transported to the hospital. But based on witness accounts, it appeared that the child had a medical emergency BEFORE the drowning occurred (several people said it appeared the child started having a seizure). The incident happened in 1.5 feet of water, and there were three adults in the water and within arms reach of the child when the incident occurred. Interestingly, the last three drowning rescues we have performed all occurred in less than 2 feet of water.
1 person likes this
@Genipher (5405)
• United States
8 Jul 16
@moffittjc
Could the seizure be the reason why he was foaming at the mouth...or is that common with drowning?
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Jul 16
@Genipher It's common with both, which is why we don't know for sure what happened. However, Foaming is common in many types of seizures, but is also common in drowning victims. When a drowning victim starts foaming, it means excessive amounts of water have filled the lungs, causing a bio-chemical reaction to occur in the lungs, which cause the foaming. Usually when a drowning victim foams, it often means it's too late to save them, or if they are saved, will result in serious medical issues. Because this child was noticed foaming right away, it appears it may have been the result of some other type of medical issue, such as a seizure.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Jul 16
Thank you! I also have to give kudos to the two firefighters that were the first on the scene. Even though the fire station is across the street from the pool, when they got the call those two didn't wait to jump in the fire truck and drive through the parking lot to get to the pool and the access gate. They knew they could get there quicker if they sprinted across the parking lot. It was 100 degrees outside yesterday, 115 with the heat index, and those two firefighters sprinted as fast as they could in full gear to get to the pool to aid the child. They were completely drenched with sweat, but never complained once. I made sure my staff gave them gatorade and water from our concession stand to ensure they didn't pass out from heat exhaustion!
@infatuatedbby (94921)
• United States
8 Jul 16
Wow glad you were there to help! You saved a life!! 
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Jul 16
When people see lifeguards, they just see lazy kids sitting in a lifeguard chair working on their tan. They don't understand the hundreds of hours of training that goes on behind the scenes when the pools aren't open. Lifeguarding is a very difficult and stressful job, and it takes a special skill set to be able to handle everything lifeguards have to deal with on a daily basis.
@Marilynda1225 (80210)
• United States
12 Jul 16
This child is lucky your staff is well trained & was able to save his life
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (80210)
• United States
12 Jul 16
@moffittjc certainly sounds like it's been a a rough few days. Hopefully no other children will need any kind of life saving methods and the pool will be a happy place for the rest of the summer.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
13 Jul 16
@Marilynda1225 I've had enough lifesaving action for a lifetime, so let's hope the rest of the summer is uneventful for us!
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
12 Jul 16
We had another incident again yesterday, in the same area of the pool as the little boy on Friday, this time it was a 6-year old girl. Once again, when the lifeguard pulled her out of the water, she had no pulse and was not breathing, and once again my lifeguards performed CPR and rescue breathing on her until they were able to establish a pulse. Due to everyone's quick actions, she was saved and will hopefully make a quick recovery. This has definitely been a very emotional few days for me and my staff.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Jul 16
Yesterday was my day off! I was nearby running some errands, so I decided to stop by the pool real quick to pick up some paperwork. I guess I happened to be in the right place at the right time.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Jul 16
@JudyEv I had the weekend off of work, so yes, I had a chance to recover. It also helped that I had to fill out a lot of paperwork about the event, so I spent a lot of time on Friday describing every aspect of the event and our response to it. It helped just getting all that out of me and onto paper. That's also one of the reasons we do a debriefing meeting with our staff immediately after an emergency, so that we can talk about everything, discuss feelings and emotions, and just get everything out in the open. I also have all of my staff put in writing a description of the emergency event from their perspective; again, writing it down is another way they can get everything off their chest. Not only does it help us document the event, but it also is therapeutic for the staff.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (326823)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 Jul 16
@moffittjc But did you get a day to recover? Sometimes bosses don't get that sort of care. They are just expected to carry on.
1 person likes this
@HazySue (39264)
• Gouverneur, New York
9 Jul 16
@moffittjc excellent training and steel nerves. Kudos to program and the trainers. I hope that little boy turns out to be ok. I wonder, where was the mother or father?
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Jul 16
He was part of a summer camp group that came to visit the pool. The kids were well attended to and watched by the counselors of this camp, and three of those counselors were in the water near the child when the incident happened. Update reports this morning indicate the he mostly likely had a seizure while playing in the water. The good news is that he is alive and well.
1 person likes this
@HazySue (39264)
• Gouverneur, New York
9 Jul 16
@moffittjc I am so glad to hear he is ok. It is so easy for a young one to drown.
1 person likes this
@VivaLaDani13 (60682)
• Perth, Australia
9 Aug 16
@moffittjc I'm so glad that everyone knew what to do in a situation like this. Well done to you all!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Aug 16
This past Thursday, me and my lifeguard crew received a special proclamation from the Mayor at city hall, where he declared it "lifeguard appreciation day" in our city for our efforts in saving people's lives. It was a pretty cool recognition!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Aug 16
@VivaLaDani13 You're so awesome!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Jul 16
Heard an update on the child this morning. Still in the hospital, but slowly recovering. The doctors determined that the child had a seizure in the water that led to the near drowning incident. That explained why the child was foaming at the mouth at the time of the drowning.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Jul 16
Thank you! I had a great lifeguard crew working yesterday, so we were in good hands!
1 person likes this
