Boy alerts pool lifeguards after man doesn’t resurface
‘It looked like he was just staying down there,’ eight-year-old says of swimmer
A quick-thinking boy is being lauded for his safety knowledge, which aided in the rescue of a man who dived into the Killarney pool last Friday and did not immediately surface.
Carson Gerbrandt, 8, had just finished jumping off the board in the diving pool when he thought he witnessed a man fall in and stay at the bottom for quite some time.
“It looked like he was just staying down there, it seemed like almost two minutes,” said Carson, who was at the pool with his grandmother.
“I just thought I should run and get help right away, so I got the lifeguards and they came to pull him out of the pool.”
EMS spokesman Stuart Brideaux confirmed that an ambulance attended Killarney pool last Friday afternoon after lifeguards reported a man in his mid-40s had trouble surfacing.
“It appeared he did not immediately come to the surface and that was when lifeguard staff were able to intervene and help him out of the pool,” Brideaux said.
The man was assessed and taken to hospital.
While Carson and his grandmother feared them an was unconscious at the bottom of the pool, EMS could not confirm whether that was the case, or whether he had fainted.
The man was conscious when he was pulled out of the pool, and when EMS arrived.
Heather Bruce, regional manager with City Recreation, said lifeguards are trained to either “sit, stand or stroll,” while they monitor pool safety. But if they are not in the immediate vicinity of an incident, the closest witness or swimming buddy is always urged to quickly get their attention to begin a rescue.
“The expectation for others isn’t to save and rescue themselves, it is to alert the lifeguard, by waving, calling them over so they can clear the pool and engage in the rescue.”
Carson’s grandmother Flora Gerbrandt said it was thanks to Carson’s quick-thinking and concern for the man’s well-being that he was able to rush over and immediately get lifeguards to rescue the man.
“Carson is such a good boy. All he wants to do is help people. He’s always helping me around the house, and always asking what he can do for others.”