GREENFIELD — As a mother of three, New Palestine resident Amanda Hall can sense when there’s parental panic.
She recalled seeing it in the demeanor of a woman at Riley Park Pool in Greenfield on Tuesday afternoon. Hall walked over to the woman, who said she couldn’t find her son. Then the woman saw the 2-year-old boy under the water. His mother jumped in and pulled him out. He was unresponsive. The woman set him down on the pool deck.
The recently CPR-certified Hall began administering the emergency procedure on the boy. Andre Davis, who’s been versed in the method since he was a teenager, stepped in to help as well. Before long, the boy was coughing up water and a tragedy was averted thanks to quick reactions and knowledge of a lifesaving practice.
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Pool manager Mark Logan said the incident occurred at around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday and that it couldn’t be determined whether the boy jumped or fell in the water.
Hall said the boy was in the main part of the pool near a wall separating its new play area and that it was difficult to find him right away due to the large amount of swimmers. Logan said that part of the pool is about 4 feet deep.
The pool’s lifeguards blew their whistles as the boy was pulled from the water, and one of the guards determined the boy had a pulse, Logan said.
A nurse who was at the pool found a pulse on the boy as well, Hall said.
Hall had just taken a CPR course last month and is starting a nursing program in August at Marian University. She described taking action with CPR on the boy at the pool as a reflex.
“There wasn’t even a thought in my head,” she said.
After administering CPR for a while, Andre Davis, unit director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hancock County and known as “Coach Davis” to its members, asked Hall if she needed a break and wanted him to step in.
“It felt like a lifetime but I’m sure it was not even 30 seconds,” Hall said of her time working to save the boy.
Davis had been at the pool to help gather the 65 club members closing out their cool-off during the hot afternoon. He had spoken with lifeguards and staff about club members leaving at 2:30. It’s common practice for lifeguards to blow their whistles to let the kids know it’s time to leave, Davis said.
But more whistles followed that 2:30 alert, which Davis sensed as unusual. He looked around and noticed a lifeguard waving other lifeguards over and saw the 2-year-old boy on the pool deck.
“OK, we got a situation,” Davis remembered thinking.
Davis said he walked up as Hall was administering CPR and noticed she seemed to be tiring. He offered to take over for her, having been certified in CPR since he was 14.
“Great futures start here,” Davis told the Daily Reporter on Wednesday, quoting the Boys & Girls Clubs’ slogan. “And I wasn’t going to let one end there.”It wasn’t long before the boy’s eyes opened and he began to cough, Davis said.
“I prayed extremely hard,” Davis said. “I’ve talked to God many-a-times, but yesterday, it was a true call for help.”
Davis said he was driven to help at the pool that day by the same motivation that drives him every day — a desire to help and protect children.
“That is the only reason I’m here, is to serve our next generation of leaders,” he said.
Logan estimated the boy was revived within 30 to 40 seconds of coming out of the pool.
Corey Breese, spokesman for the Greenfield Fire Territory, said the boy was conscious by the time first-responders arrived. The 2-year-old was then transported to Hancock Regional Hospital for evaluation, Breese said.
“It was a good outcome, thank God,” Breese said.
Logan said while the pool keeps track of admissions, it’s difficult to tell exactly how many swimmers were present at the time of the incident, although he’s sure it was less than the pool’s capacity of between 500 and 550. Five lifeguards were on duty at the time, Logan said. A minimum of three lifeguards are on duty whenever there’s more than two or three people in the pool, he continued, adding that as the crowd increases, so too, does the number of guards.
Breese said the incident was Greenfield’s second near-drowning involving a child in a week, adding that the first one occurred at a pool at a private residence. He encouraged pool-goers to always be aware of their surroundings while enjoying hot summer days.
Davis knew Boys & Girls Clubs members needed to be reassured after witnessing the close call. He told them about CPR and assured them the boy would be OK while giving them gentle reminders about always keeping their eyes open and use their “walking feet” around the pool.
“Because I don’t want them to be afraid of going back,” Davis said. “I told them we’ll be going back there next Tuesday and and we’re going to continue to do what we do.”
Davis, Hall and Logan encouraged everyone to learn CPR.
“It’s a lifesaving tool that everyone needs, I mean everybody,” Davis said.
