On Aug. 30, five Hamilton Splash Park staff received lifesaving awards from the county fire chief for the actions they took to save a 7-year-old from drowning.
As reported by ABC 7News, Jalen DaSilva, Jordan Eberhardt and Caleb Guzman-Munguia were working at the splash park, adjacent to Driskell Park, when the incident occurred on June 25. After a child was pulled — unconscious and not breathing — from the pool, DaSilva, Eberhardt and Guzman-Munguia, along with splash park employees Dylan Chavez and Errol Bedward, initiated lifesaving actions, according to county fire and EMS spokesperson Alan Doubleday.
At the August news conference, Doubleday said that the group of employees assisted with CPR and used an AED, or automated external defibrillator, machine. Within a few minutes, the child began breathing again.
“When I touched him, his skin was cold,” Guzman-Munguia said during the news conference, noting how he’d pulled the child out of the pool and began rescue breathing.
Guzman-Munguia discussed processing the event with team members later on that day. “I’m really grateful for the team that was there because I know we did our jobs,” he said.
“The actions of each of you working together as a team saved this child’s life,” Doubleday told the group.
Emergency response crews reportedly arrived soon after and transported the child to a local hospital in stable condition, according to the county fire department’s Facebook page.
Prince George’s Fire Chief Tiffany Green issued the awards.
