Chapter Spotlight: Hosa Heros from Vidalia High School!

A four-year-old child is recovering what could have been a tragedy had it not been for two young men who were on lifeguard duty last weekend at the Vidalia Aquatic Center. Deuce Hightower and Brylen Goss, both 16, are working this summer at the city pool in Vidalia, and both are certified and trained  by the American Red Cross to do their summer job.

Brylen was the first to respond to the child.

“I saw a child floating under the water in the shallow end which is not unusual,” he said. “A lot of kids like to do that. But when he didn’t move for about 20 seconds, I went in to tell him not to do that because it looked like he was drowning, but when I got to him, he rolled, and I found his body was limp. I picked him up and called for Deuce.”

Deuce quickly responded along with two other lifeguards, Sarah Grace, and Duggan, who were also at the pool.

“When we pulled him from the water, he had a very, very weak pulse,” Brylen continued. “I took out my CPR mask and Deuce began compressions. We did CPR for two-and-half to three minutes, and the little boys’ eyes started to flutter, and foam was coming from his nose and mouth. That was definitely progress.”

Vidalia police arrived at the scene and took over with paramedics closely behind. Medical personnel  loaded the child into an ambulance and took him to the hospital.

“The police told us that if we had not responded like we did and the child was under water for another minute, he would have died,” said Brylen.

Both young men stress the importance of having an adult monitoring children in a pool even if there are lifeguards on duty.

“It’s very important to have adult supervision at a pool,” Deuce said. “There’s usually three us lifeguards on duty with more than 70 kids in the pool and although we watch carefully, we still need adults to monitor their kids and make sure they aren’t getting into trouble or distress.”

The teens concur that the event affected them, with Brylen stating, “It definitely took a toll on me. I couldn’t sleep well that night and it was the first thing on my mind the next morning.”

Deuce agreed, but added, “I’m glad it worked out like it did. I could have been much worse.”