Sunny Days and Sundays

by Kailey Aiken

Although last week’s heat wave has passed, the weather has remained warm, and the sun has been shining the majority of the time. Schools are out for the summer, so our weekday crowd has been steadily increasing, and our weekends have been crowded as ever.

If you weren’t one of the over 2,000 people to view the Friends of Rockaway Facebook post, let me fill you in on Sunday afternoon’s rescue on Beach 95th Street.

Around 4 p.m., it was just about low tide. Swimmers and bathers were far out on the sandbar. It was a hot day, so the beach was packed, and the ocean was equally bustling. The water wasn’t super rough, but the rip currents were pulling. We had already had at least four cases throughout the day.

We spotted two swimmers out on the edge of the sandbar who began struggling to swim into where they could stand between the Beach 95 and 95.5 chairs. We were whistling them in, but it became clear they couldn’t get in on their own. It looked like it would be an easy, run-of-the-mill case.

I jumped chair from Beach 95th Street, Aidan Harkins from 95.5, and Dylan Markle joined us from his walking post. We ran out on the sandbar as far as we could and then swam out to the victims. Just before we reached them, the girl lost consciousness and the man with her was able to hold her above water for a few seconds before we got there.

Aidan, Dylan, and I were able to get the buoy underneath the girl and keep her afloat as we began swimming her in. Other lifeguards responded to the man in distress. From the water, we blew multiple case whistles to alert the rest of the shack of the emergency.

We carried the victim across the sandbar and onto shore where other lifeguards had the backboard ready and oxygen on the way. The victim remained unconscious, so we prepared for CPR. A huge crowd on the beach had formed around us at this point.

As I ran down with a pocket mask, the victim began coughing up water and regained consciousness. We turned her on her side to continue coughing up water and kept her awake and alert until EMS arrived to transfer her to the hospital. When she was placed on the EMS buggy, she was responsive and holding her mother’s hand. We expect she has made a full recovery.

While unprecedented, Sunday’s rescue showed the importance of the extensive drilling and training we do. Everything went as smoothly as possible, and the rescue was a team effort from the whole 97 shack. Whether it was running over the equipment, controlling the crowd, or being involved in the actual rescue, everyone did exactly what they have been trained to do.

Aside from our big rescue Sunday afternoon, we had two around the rocks cases earlier in the day on the closed beach side of the Beach 93rd Street rocks — so here’s another friendly reminder to NOT swim where there are NO lifeguards. And to stay away from the rock jetties!