http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06203/707814-55.stm

Dormont lifeguards praised for rescue
Saturday, July 22, 2006

By Tim Grant and Jim McKinnon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Two months after landing her first job as a certified lifeguard, 16-year-old Laurel Martinez applied her rescue training to help save a man's life.

It was midafternoon Thursday. She knew something was wrong when the man hovered near the bottom of the eight-foot section at Dormont Pool for way too long. She gave the emergency signal -- three short whistles -- and dove in.

"She went in and brought him out," said Melissa Addis, assistant manager at the public pool. "He was a big guy."

The victim, Noe Lopez-Vilchis, 32, was revived by cardiopulmonary resuscitation and a defibrillator the lifeguards used along the side of the pool. Paramedics took him to Mercy Hospital where he remained yesterday in critical condition.

County police say Mr. Lopez-Vilchis is an illegal immigrant from Mexico.

He had been at the pool with three other Mexicans who since have been detained by the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, formerly Immigration and Naturalization Services. The agency could not be reached and the other three men have not been identified.

Ms. Martinez, a junior who also competes on the swim team at Keystone Oaks High School, and another lifeguard who helped with CPR, Janina Peters, 20, were both in counseling yesterday.

"They did a great job," said George Zboyovsky, the borough manager. "It was a textbook rescue."

As the summer temperatures hover in 90 degree territory, more people in this area are cooling themselves at public swimming pools, and lifeguards barely old enough to drive a car act as medical professionals because they are the first in line to save a life.

Lifeguard trainees are required to take courses in CPR, first aid and rescue techniques. They must be at least 15 years old to take the exit exam.

Training involves classroom instruction and the practice of rescue skills in the pool, said Earleen Birkner, an American Red Cross Lifeguard instructor for the past eight years.

"We're looking for someone who is responsible, can enforce rules and be trustworthy and dependable," Ms. Birkner said.

"The main role of a lifeguard is to ensure the safety of all swimmers," Ms. Birkner said. "Lifeguards should be strong swimmers and be able to be attentive despite the crowds and intense heat."

The Red Cross trains about 89 percent of lifeguards in the U.S.

Candidates for a lifeguard certificate must take an exit test of 500 yards of continuous swimming -- freestyle and breaststroke -- and a surface dive to retrieve a 10-pound object and swim with it for 20 yards.

Lifeguards also must know how to identify swimmers from nonswimmers and how to detect potential problems. Dormont Police Chief Russell McKibben said there were about 500 swimmers in the pool Thursday when Ms. Martinez spotted Mr. Lopez-Vilchis struggling at the bottom of the deep end.

"I'm extremely proud of how our lifeguards reacted," Ms. Addis said. "We train for it. But you never know how it's going to be when it actually happens and I couldn't have asked for better yesterday."