“Call for help!” Those were the first words that came out of my mouth, as I watched a man slowly fade away in front of me. I was still for a minute, my feet seemed glued the floor and my arms and legs were stiff like a statue’s. I felt the adrenaline pumping through my veins and I became light headed. Then I saw the faces of his family members. I knew I had to do something. I bent at the knees near his head and placed my two fingers on his neck to check for a pulse, he felt cold and clammy and his pulse was slow, and hard to find. I lowered my ear over his nose and mouth to listen for any signs of breathing. His breathing was extremely shallow like he had the weight of the world upon his chest and he was trying to catch a breath. I knew then that the victim’s breathing was going to diminish very soon. Time stood still and a minute seemed to last for days. I felt like everything was moving in slow motion. I monitored his status until another lifeguard arrived with the proper equipment. I then realized this man had stopped breathing entirely. I grabbed the rescue mask and began to breathe into the man’s mouth and watched his chest rise and fall. After a few cycles I asked “Is he breathing?” There was n
Years later I was sitting in a ball with my body wrapped up in my hibiscus covered beach towel, trying to shield myself from the cold breeze that made my nose red and numb, lips bright purple, and ears cold like ice-cubes to the touch. I listened as intently as I could to my trainers as they taught the procedures of executing CPR. Other potential lifeguards accompanied me on this day as we partnered up and began to get the hands-on feel. A line of 10 trainees sounded off like a military group, marching through the streets and calling out together the steps to do next. After class, a group of us went home and practiced over and over again like a bad habit. CPR was one of the most important parts of the lifeguard training and it had to be a perfected skill. Time and dedication was needed in order to be not only good, but great at CPR and all other skills in being a lifeguard also. I was determined to be a great lifeguard, but I never once thought the day would come where I would save a life using the skills I learned through my training.
I remembered everything there was to know about CPR. I leaned over the man’s chest and placed my hands carefully over his rib cage, one over the other, in the precise spot in order not to hurt him. I made sure that another guard was ready with the air bag to act as a breath after I did my compressions. I began pushing down with all my strength. The victim laid stiff and cold. I counted out loud so that the rest of my colleagues could hear me and knew what to do next. I said, “One and two and three and four.” To my relief the EMT arrived on the scene. The EMT took over the CPR an
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