When the lifeguards saw him, he was unresponsive and floating in the shallow end of the pool.
“He wasn’t breathing,” said Joan Carrico. “He had no pulse,” she said, replaying what happened at The Concord Community Pool on Wednesday, July 15.
Carrico is the City of Concord’s Director of Parks & Recreation, which operates the pool.
Lifeguard Christa Rohrlach pulled him from the water. Then pool staff kicked into emergency mode, placing him on a backboard to stabilize his spine and breathing oxygen into his lungs. They delivered chest compressions and prepared the defibrillator. They were about to jolt him.
“That’s when he began to gain consciousness,” Carrico told Patch.
Staff later learned that the adult male, whose identity is being withheld to protect his privacy, had been visiting the pool with his two kids that day. He had been trying to swim as far as he could without taking a breath. It is unclear what happened under the water.
What is clear is that on September 3 Concord City Council and The American Red Cross publicly recognized the pool employees as heroes.
The team involved in the rescue:
Pool Managers: Jake Heikkila, Laura Griffin, and Sal Caputi
Lifeguards: Christa Rohrach, Lindsay Nausin, Devyn Darner, Quinn O’Shea and Demetria Richard
Program Manager: Matt Galindo
Mayor Dan Helix gave each one of them a certificate, commemorating their valiant efforts, and verbally lauded them in City Council Chambers.
“Well done,” Helix said.
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