Rescate Saves a Drowning Boy

A five-year-old boy from Obregon is alive today thanks to a dramatic rescue by Rescate at the San Carlos Plaza hotel.

Jessy Guerrero, Comandante of Rescate de San Carlos, received a phone call one summer morning from an employee at the San Carlos Plaza Hotel reporting that a child was drowning in their swimming pool. The employee was very shaken and could not provide any further details, so Jessy immediately jumped in an ambulance and drove as quickly as possible to the scene. Upon arrival he grabbed a medical bag and ran through the hotel lobby to the pool area, leaving the gurney and other details to his colleagues.

When he emerged into the pool area, he encountered about 200 people – all of the hotel staff and guests – watching, crying and praying over a man administering CPR to a young boy. When the man confirmed that he had done CPR but had not administered any breaths, Jessy grabbed an “ambu bag” (a hand-held device that seals around the patient’s nose and mouth and provides air to patients who are not breathing) and provided several breaths to the child. After approximately 20 seconds of treatment with the ambu bag the child, to the extreme relief of everyone there, started coughing and then crying.

Although Jessy was also elated that the child had regained consciousness and started to breathe, he continued to be concerned about his medical situation, as the crying was escalating and the child had not expelled any water, which can indicate a continued risk. The Rescate staff put the boy on the gurney and hurried him to the ambulance where Jessy performed further evaluation. One of the neurological tests involved squeezing the boy’s feet to see if he could feel it, and Jessy was thrilled when the boy kicked him and yelled at him to stop squeezing his feet – not only did he have feeling in his legs, but he was fully conscious and aware. Further good news followed when Jessy found the boy’s oxygen level to be much higher than expected. Given that the patient was stable enough to transport, Jessy took him directly to a doctor’s office for further evaluation and treatment.

Later that day the boy’s mother came to the Rescate office to thank Jessy, “the angel who had saved her boy” after three minutes under water and ten minutes of CPR. While Jessy credits the bystander who applied CPR and team work for saving the child, he is also thrilled to have been successful in saving the boy’s life. He states that days like this make it all worthwhile: “This why we are here, we exist to save lives, can you imagine San Carlos without Rescate?”

The little boy from Obregon would not have survived the wait for a Red Cross ambulance from Guaymas. He owes his life to Rescate de San Carlos and those who support it.