Canada Games Pool.
Image Credit: Tourism Kamloops
September 06, 2013 - 2:08 PM
KAMLOOPS – An unconscious man was pulled from the deep end of the Canada Games Pool Thursday evening and after about 10 minutes of chest compressions was transported to hospital.
Aquatics program supervisor Glen Cheetham says shortly after 8 p.m. on Sept. 5 lifeguards removed a young male, thought to be in his late teens to early 20s, from the deep tank of the main pool. CPR was performed as they activated emergency medical services and cleared the pool of all swimmers.
“Our thoughts are with the young man and his family right now,” Cheetham says, adding he believes the man is still under hospital care at this point.
One witness says the lifeguards did a great job and had the pool cleared in about two minutes, at which point they moved the man to a far corner away from the rest of the patrons while they continued to perform compressions.
Cheetham agrees with the assessment, saying the lifeguards executed their training very well in this instance.
The lifeguards undergo training several times each year and while more typical medical interventions are minor in nature they are required to activate EMS on a somewhat regular basis.
“They fairly regularly activate EMS,” Cheetham says, “luckily it's not frequently- it's not every day, every week or even every month.”
As for the cause of this particular incident, Cheetham says they are not completely sure what happened to the young man.
“We still don't know why or how the situation happened, the investigation is under way,” he says.
To contact a reporter for this story, email jstahn@infotelnews.ca, call (250)819-3723 or tweet @JennStahn.
News from © iNFOnews, 2013