Can You Spot The Drowning Person Before This Heroic Lifeguard Does?
Can You Spot The Drowning Person Before This Heroic Lifeguard Does?
We probably don’t give lifeguards enough credit for their patience and watchful eyes. As you can see in this video posted by GOOD, one young woman’s vigilance in the pool led to the super-quick save of a drowning boy.
As dozens and dozens of guests swim around and bob in large inner tubes, the lifeguard notices a young boy almost instantly as he quietly flips his flotation device and falls into the water. How fast can you find him struggling in the waves?
In a crowded pool on a hot summer day, spotting a drowning person is often a “Where’s Waldo?” situation.
Drownings are common in situations with a lot of commotion, where a child can slip underwater quickly and unnoticed, according to emergency medicine physician Darria Long Gillespie, MD, an assistant professor at Emory University School of Medicine.
Sometimes a person struggling in water will not be able to stay afloat, and the moment of drowning is a rather silent one. Other times — as in this instance — the victim is able to put up a fight. “The person is likely upright, they are treading water, trying to keep themselves above it, and their hands are flailing,” Gillespie told Yahoo Health last month. “They are also likely trying to grasp for the rescuer.”
Related: There Are 6 Types of Drowning — 4 That You’ve Never Heard Of
All this active movement can even be dangerous for the person attempting the save, if the drowning individual instinctively grabs them and pulls them underwater. They must use caution, something this young lifeguard does brilliantly.
This little boy, and anyone who experiences a drowning episode where they might have taken water into the lungs, should be watched for 24 hours. Even small amounts of inhaled fluid can harm the lining of the lungs and be incredibly dangerous. “If the lung lining is damaged, it can’t transmit oxygen, and the body is also leaking fluid into the lungs as a result of the inflammation,” Gillespie says.
If this fluid accumulates in the hours following a near-drowning, the victim can silently drown after the fact. Look for the symptoms of a secondary drowning, which include acting out of character, extreme fatigue, an unrelenting cough, abnormal breathing, and vomiting — the last of which occurs about 60 percent of cases.
This type of episode might be more common in children, simply because they’re not as strong. “When an adult is drowning, they can keep their head above water,” Gillespie says. “When it’s a child, they can’t always keep their head above the water.”
Be safe this summer — and thank your local lifeguard!
Read This Next: Yes, You Can Drown on Land. Here’s How
