Drowning Victim Survives, Rescuers Honored During Ceremony

PALO ALTO, CA — After a particularly tragic June for the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, emergency personnel reminisced on one victory for the month in honoring those who responded to a drowning incident at the Burgess Pool in which the 14-year-old girl was later revived.

A special ceremony Thursday honored the rescue efforts of Menlo Park Fire, pool staffers and swim coaches, and staff at Stanford Hospital, where the girl was revived. Authorities said she suffered a cardiac arrest before drowning at a swim meet at the Laurel Street pool in Menlo Park on the afternoon of June 28.

The incident came on the heels of a drowning of a 2-year-old who died in an Atherton pool.

Menlo Park Fire crews responded when the drowning call came in.

"Unfortunately, I've been to a number of drowning calls at Burgess Pool. When I arrived, the 14-year-old girl had just been pulled from the water and was pulseless, not breathing, and CPR was in progress," Battalion Chief Chris Pimental said. "Things didn’t look good, despite being told that her total down time under the water was only 15-30 seconds. What we didn’t know at the time was that she had experienced a sudden cardiac arrest, prior to slipping under the water."

Bystanders reported the girl had just completed a race and was at the pool's edge when she took off her goggles and "seemed to" collapse, sinking to the bottom of the pool. Her fellow swimmers and coach noticed her drop below the surface. The coach and off-duty Menlo Fire Captain/Paramedic Eric McGlennon immediately dove into the pool, bringing her to the surface and handing her off to head Life Guard Jonathan Martinez, head Swim Coach Julie Cohen and Stanford Dr. Peter Meaney, who had rushed to the edge of the pool and quickly started cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

Menlo Park Fire Capt. Matt Menard, a paramedic, and his crew arrived on the scene at 4:47 p.m.

The team of firefighters took over CPR and used advanced life support techniques to no avail, including starting an intravenous line for fluids and drug therapy with one round of cardiac defibrillation.

The girl was raced to the Stanford Hospital Trauma Center, which sponsored last week's awards ceremony with the Revive Initiative for Resuscitation Excellence group.

"There can be no greater accomplishment in this world than the saving of a life. This was an incredible team effort by so many different people from those that dove into the pool, from those that handed her off to the staff and doctor that started CPR to the firefighter-paramedics and ambulance crew who used advanced life support techniques on to the emergency room team of nurses and doctors where everything went exactly right," Menlo Park Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman told the group.

The girl's identity was not disclosed.