The city of Hammond sent off the Thomas McDermott Sr. Marina Lifeguard crew with a celebration of a job well done after one of their teams saved a woman’s life in July.
Family and friends gathered at the marina on Aug. 12 to celebrate Gabriella Gomez, Georgiana Manojlovic, Juelisa Gomez and Matthew Maciel, all of Hammond; Trevor Bembry, of Schererville; and their trainer, Grace Mulcrone, also of Hammond, for their part in saving a woman from drowning July 22. It was closing time at the beach, and Manojlovic and Gabriella Gomez were heading down to tell the two families left out there to leave when Manojlovic frantically called to her, Gabriella Gomez said.
“At first, I wasn’t sure what we were looking at, but then I saw a guy pulling a woman out of the water,” she said.
Manojlovic jumped on the phone immediately with 911 while the man, who turned out to be the woman’s son, and Gabriella Gomez first tried to make the woman vomit, she said. Once she did, Gabriella Gomez began CPR.
Nothing happened at first, Gabriella Gomez said, but undeterred, she started a second round of compressions while Manojlovic continued to relay information to 911. After a moment, the woman gasped for air.
“I checked her neck, and she was breathing,” Gabriella Gomez said. “After three to five minutes, the EMTs showed up and took over, but when your adrenaline’s going, it feels like it took so long.”
Marina executive director and former Hammond Fire Chief Jeff Smith knows that feeling well. He got out to the scene as the woman, who’d been out with her family all day and may have had an alcoholic beverage that made her succumb to the heat more quickly, was taken to an area hospital for observation.
“I looked at the girls and told them, ‘Listen, I know you feel fine right now, but when that adrenaline wears off, you’re not going to believe what happened, so if you need me, please call,’” Smith said. “I could see it on their faces, though.”
Sure enough, Gabriella got home, and after a bit, it hit her all at once.
“I was like, ‘Mom! You’re not going to believe this!” Gabriella Gomez said.
Manojlovic said her training kicked in as if it were second nature, even though they rarely see situations that close to the shore.
“I saw someone waving me down, and then the other person being dragged behind, and I just ran. There was no time to sit down and think about what to do,” she said. “The son was so scared, which of course was understandable, but it felt like everything went from 0-to-100 like that, and it was crazy.
“It never happens the way you think it’s going to, but our training is so good, we know how to handle it.”
Mulcrone, who manages the beach and has been with the marina for eight years, wasn’t working that day but was so proud of her staff.
“At least I know that what I teach them, they’re listening,” Mulcrone said. “It’s really rewarding to know that they can handle situations like this.”
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance writer for the Post-Tribune.
