Samantha Carroll, a freshman lifeguard at AU’s Reeves Aquatic Center, rescued a student that likely would have drowned otherwise on April 8.
Carroll said that she was sitting up in the lifeguard chair when she noticed someone in the pool who did not seem to be the strongest swimmer.
“Of course I was scanning the whole pool, but I paid a little extra attention to that person,” Carroll said.
Carroll said she witnessed the swimmer attempt to swim down to the bottom of the 13-feet deep end of the pool, something she said many other swimmers do. The swimmer was unable to get to the surface again, she said. Carroll watched his struggle and immediately got down from the chair.
“The swimmer actually started drifting sideways and seizing underwater, so I knew that he was in trouble,” Carroll said.
In her lifeguard training, Carroll was taught to recognize the symptoms of various medical conditions in order to respond to them effectively, she said. Carroll realized that this situation warranted a response, and she immediately jumped into the water.
As she got into the water, she called to the other lifeguard on duty, freshman Jordana Levitt, to get a backboard to help pull the swimmer out of the water. Arthur Ramsay, a freshman off-duty lifeguard who happened to be present, radioed the manager on duty who called Public Safety for help.
Carroll reached the swimmer underwater and pulled him to the surface. Richelle Harvey, the facility supervisor and aquatic coordinator, brought the backboard to Carroll, and Levitt helped Carroll pull the swimmer out of the water.
“Initially, I couldn’t hear [the swimmer] breathing, and he was unresponsive,” Carroll said. “He was unconscious and was still seizing, but then he started moaning which meant that he was breathing. He actually came to as the Public Safety arrived.”
Levitt monitored the swimmer’s condition until Public Safety arrived, and Harvey and Ramsay completed the necessary paperwork with information from the swimmer’s friends, who were there at the same time and witnessed the rescue.
“The rescue was flawless,” Harvey said. “I’m very, very proud of my whole staff. There is a lot of training for this job, but it all kicked in, and everyone performed beautifully.”
According to both Harvey and Carroll, Public Safety arrived on the scene within minutes, and members of the Tenleytown police, fire and EMT departments arrived soon after.
The swimmer was taken to Georgetown Hospital. As of April 20, he had been released from the hospital in good health, according to Harvey.
“A nurse from the hospital repeatedly told a representative from AU that Sam’s early intervention saved [the swimmer’s] life,” Harvey said. “This is our job, and it’s really nice to know we could help him and make sure he’s okay now.”
Although Carroll said she acted through pure adrenaline during the rescue, afterwards she was shaken by what had happened.
“I’ve never had to [do a rescue] like this,” Carroll said. “I’ve been a lifeguard for almost four years, and I felt prepared, but you never really think you’re going to have to do it.”
Harvey let Carroll leave her shift early that day, and, despite the shock, Carroll did not have any fears about going back to her job as a lifeguard.
“[Being a lifeguard is] an important job, but some people don’t take it seriously,” Carroll said. “If I wasn’t there this guy would’ve died. It made me realize how I’m really trusted with peoples’ lives.”
