The swimming area at Regner Park reopens today, Monday, June 13 at 11 a.m. The pool was closed Sunday because of cooler temps and an emergency situation Saturday involving the rescue of a 6-year-old-girl.
On Sunday at 5 p.m. West Bend Police Chief Ken Meuler released a statement saying the girl was at Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee in “critical condition.” Calls have been placed to get an update on the child’s status.
Andrea Garrison, 32, of West Bend was in the middle of the swimming area with her family when she heard a man scream.
Garrison, a registered nurse for the past 10 years, was one of the first to run and try to help.
“The man who pulled her out of the water put her down on the sand and me and another woman, an EMT, cleared her airway,” she said.
The little girl, according to Garrison, had a lot of water in her lungs. “We kept clearing her airways and the lifeguards got there and started CPR,” she said. “We got the AED on her and when paramedics got there she still was not breathing and pulse less.”
Garrison said there were two women at the scene who were hysterical and crying. She could only assume they were family of the girl.
“Both of them were crying and one kept saying, ‘thank you, thank you,'” she said.
Garrison has a background in ICU and critical care nursing and she said everybody should know CPR. “I don’t want to be recognized. I would have done what anybody would do,” Garrison said.
“Everybody should know CPR. It happens within a minute and just knowing where an AED is in a public place – it’s so important.”
After the ambulance left Garrison reviewed the scenario with police. She thought the girl was in about 4 to 5-feet of water. “I’m 5-foot-9 and the water was up to my breast and the water had to have been over that little girl’s head,” she said.
Garrison said it was unclear how long the girl had been underwater but she praised the man who found her, those who administered CPR, and the lifeguards.
“The lifeguards were on scene and they did what they were supposed to do. That’s the main thing that saved her were those lifeguards,” she said.
