PARSIPPANY — At the Parsippany-Troy Hills Township Council meeting on Tuesday, September 11, Council President Paul Carifi, Jr., presented a number of certificates honoring three lifeguards, a pool member and the lifeguard trainer.
On Wednesday, August 15 a near-drowning happened around 5:30 p.m. at the Glacier Hills Association pool. A 9-year-old boy visiting the pool with a friend jumped off a diving board into the deep-end, with depths of at least ten feet, and didn’t resurface.
According to Council President Paul Carifi, Jr., pool member Janet Adams was relaxing nearby when she heard other children scream for help, and immediately sprang into action. It only took a few seconds for the on-duty lifeguards to also jump into the pool. Lifeguards Kendall Pachiolo, 15, and Rosie Walek, 16, jumped into the water, pulling the boy out of the deep end of the pool alongside Adams.
The boy was under for about 30 seconds and was unconscious when he was pulled out, so the two lifeguards performed chest compressions as Adams gave mouth-to-mouth. Another lifeguard, 16-year-old Kevin Mulligan quickly called Parsippany-Troy Hills Police. Mulligan was not present at the Council meeting to receive his certificate.
Carifi said “the whole thing happened pretty quickly from start to finish, and the boy was awake by the time police arrived to the scene. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital for medical treatment.”
Their quick actions were based on good training by Kyle Berry, not prior first-hand experience: this was the first time any of the lifeguards in the pool’s half-century in operation have had to truly save a life.
