On Wednesday 25th January, the Royal Life Saving Society awarded six lifeguards from Tandridge Leisure Centre in Oxted with the prestigious Meritorious Lifeguard Award for their swift action when 68-year-old Timothy Napier suffered a heart attack while using the fitness pool.

 

Newly qualified lifeguard, James Lynch, noticed that Mr Napier was lying face down in the water and after blowing his whistle to get his attention and receiving no response, James waded into the water to find the man was semi-conscious and unresponsive.

 

On hearing James blow the whistle, other members of the lifeguard team hurried to the poolside to assist him with lifting Mr Napier out of the pool.  James then found that Mr Napier had stopped breathing and he was joined by two other Managers, Chris O’Neill and Trina Stravert, who immediately began to administer CPR and and treat Mr Napier with the defibrillator.

 

After being flown to hospital by air ambulance, Mr Napier  was taken straight to theatre where he received a pacemaker.

 

All the lifeguards who assisted Mr Napier hold RLSS UK’s National Pool Lifeguard Qualification (NPLQ), and for newly-qualified James and Kate, it this was the first time either of them had dealt with an emergency situation. In total the team performed CPR for 20 minutes.

 

On Monday 19th December, the team received a visit from Mr Napier who thanked them for their lifesaving intervention.  He said he has committed to changing his lifestyle and so far has lost a stone and a half in weight.

 

On presenting the team with their awards, Helen Bowker, RLSS UK’s Community Drowning Prevention Co-ordinator, said: “On behalf of RLSS UK I’d like to congratulate these six lifeguards on their exceptional bravery and skill. As a former lifeguard I know how distressing these incidents can be – the fact that two of the lifeguards are newly qualified is a testament to the excellent training they have received.”