A nurse, surf lifesaver and mother who helped save the life of a girl who nearly drowned is urging everyone to learn CPR.
Northlander Odette Rowan is sharing her story for Monday’s World Drowning Prevention Day, in the hope more people will be able and willing to help save a life.
An average of 77 Kiwis drown each year and there have been 49 preventable drownings so far in 2022, Water Safety New Zealand said.
Rowan believes a 5-year-old girl, who was found motionless at the bottom of a pool, could have died if CPR had not been administered instantly.
READ MORE:
* Man desperately tried to save his drowning cousin during ill-fated waterfall swim
* ‘We had to do something to keep them safe’: Swimming classes for young refugees gain interest
* 10-year-old twins save dad from drowning by using CPR they learned from The Sandlot
The incident happened at a resort-style pool in Taupō in April 2021.
Supplied
Odette Rowan – a Mangawhai nurse, surf-lifesaver and mother – encourages everyone to learn basic life-saving skills.
Rowan is a Whangārei Hospital ED nurse and Mangwhai Heads Surf Life Saving member.
However, she said she was “just some random person at a swimming pool who knew CPR” and urged others to learn the technique.
“I was relaxing in the spa area with my kids when I heard screaming. I turned around and saw a man carrying a floppy, blue child from the water.
“A woman was fixed to the spot, screaming. The child looked dead.”
123rf
Odette Rowan is urging others to learn CPR after a terrifying incident at a Taupō pool. (File photo)
Rowan said she instructed her children to stay where they were, yelled at a couple to call 111 and assessed the girl, only to find she wasn’t breathing.
“I started chest compressions. I could have been pressing on my daughter’s chest. They were the same size. They had the same blonde curls. This could not be happening.”
The man, who turned out to be the girl’s dad, helped by giving the child two breaths on Rowan’s instruction.
“He gave the breaths and I continued on compressions. Two more breaths. Then she coughed, vomited and cried,” she said.
Supplied
Children generally love the water but it can be deadly, with six children aged 14 and under drowning so far in 2022, according to Water Safety NZ figures. (File photo)
“Relief washed over me at that cry … As I helped get the little girl’s swimsuit off to get her warm – it was a freezing Taupō morning – the reality of the situation started sinking in.”
The girl was taken to hospital and made a full recovery, but Rowan was shaken with the reality she could have died.
She has since been in touch with the girl’s parents, who said each thought the other parent was watching the 5-year-old.
The girl was found by her 7-year-old brother on the bottom of the pool and he heroically pulled her up, she said.
The situation could have been different if Rowan and the girl’s father did not know CPR.
“Use this winter to either learn or refresh basic life support,” she urged.
“You might be the random person who helps to save a life.”
