Seven-year-old pulled from pool at South Brunswick facility.
By: Rebecca Tokarz
Two on-duty lifeguards rescued a drowning, unconscious 7-year-old Plainsboro boy from a pool in the South Brunswick Family YMCA on Saturday afternoon.
According to police, Phani Paladugu and 14 other children participated in a quick pool safety lesson with the lifeguards at the start of a birthday pool party hosted by the YMCA.
Not long after, at 2:15 p.m., lifeguard Jason Sprague, 22, of Bordentown heard people shouting that someone was at the bottom of the pool.
Mr. Sprague, a lifeguard for six years, responded by jumping into the pool and located the unconscious child lying face down at the bottom of the deep end, police said.
The 15-yard wide pool has a 3-foot deep shallow section and a 5-foot deep end, according to police.
Mr. Sprague brought the boy to the surface, where Katherine Giordano, 27, of Plainsboro, the Y’s aquatic director and a six-year lifeguard, took over, placing the boy on the ground by the pool, according to police.
Ms. Giordano then placed the boy on his side and assisted in clearing his airway. Minutes later, the youngster began to spit out water and cry, police said.
Police said they could not determine how long the child was underwater, but based on how quickly the boy responded to treatment, it appeared he was only underwater for a short period of time.
Ms. Giordano said she didn’t think twice about helping the boy.
"You just go into autopilot and you remember all the training you’ve had," Ms. Giordano said in a statement issued by the YMCA.
The Monmouth Junction First Aid Squad and paramedics took the boy to the University Medical Center at Princeton, where he was treated and released.
This is the second reported near drowning in the last year and the first incident for the YMCA which opened in 2001, police said.
Last July, Joshua Linda, then 4, nearly drowned while swimming in a pool at the Mill Road Day Camp.
As Joshua swam with a group of children, he ingested a large amount of water. Vomit became lodged in his throat, cutting off the boy’s oxygen supply.
Joshua was found floating face down in the water and while he was only underwater for a short time and never stopped breathing, his face was partially blue when he was rescued by four lifeguards and then taken to by the Monmouth Junction First Aid Squad to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
Now that summer has arrived, the American Red Cross Web site reminds children and parents that they need to be vigilant while cooling off at the pools.
Parents should watch children who are near any form of water, no matter how well their children can swim or how shallow the water.
Never allow flotation devices and inflatable toys to substitute for parental supervision because "such devices could suddenly shift position, lose air or slip out from underneath, leaving the child in a dangerous situation," according to the Web site.
Children should take a water safety course or learn to swim. Parents should take a CPR class because it will "expand your capabilities in providing care for your child," according to the Web site.