Charles City pool lifeguards recognized for life-saving rescue

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Three lifeguards in particular and the Charles City swimming pool staff in general were honored with a plaque Monday, recognizing efforts that saved the life of a little girl earlier this summer.

The plaque reads: “Congratulations to all pool staff for the lifesaving performance on June 15, 2023. The skills implemented indicate your dedication to training, certifying and understanding the seriousness of duties which may be imposed on you at any moment.” The plaque is “signed” by the 2023 Park and Recreation Board.

The acknowledgement was suggested by Charles City Mayor Dean Andrews after lifeguards rescued a 5-year-old girl who was floating face down in the water, unconscious and not breathing.

The three lifeguards most closely involved – Destiny Kolheim, Lilly Luft and Mario Hoefer – described the event early Monday afternoon after the plaque was presented and before the pool opened for the day.

“It was a pretty busy day that day – we had the Rockford day care come in,” said Luft. “Destiny and I were on the Chair 1 and 4. She saw the girl at first in the water and she jumped in and whistled at me and I jumped in after her. Tried to get there as fast as we could.”

Kolheim said, “At first I was just doing my normal scanning, but I had little kids right next to me flipping off the cement, so I was trying to pay attention to them and also scan.”

She said she saw a little girl face down in the water, but it’s common for kids to practice floating on their fronts or backs, and it was in about a 2-foot-deep area of the pool where you wouldn’t typically think of someone having trouble.

“I saw her and at first I thought she was playing floating,” Kolheim said. “I started scanning again and I saw her again and I knew something was off because she hadn’t moved from the last time I saw her, which was probably five to 10 seconds. I whistled at Lilly and I pointed.”

A man in the pool saw Kolheim pointing and lifted the child above the water until Kolheim got to them, she said.

“That played a big role, too, because her head wasn’t under that whole time. He turned around and grabbed the little girl and had her head out of the water,” Kolheim said.

“I just grabbed her and I started screaming, ‘Hey, can I borrow a towel?’ and a lady dropped her towel down and Lilly came running. I set her down and Lilly started CPR and Mario came running over. He cleared the pool and our manager came running out,” Kolheim said.

Luft said she did several chest compressions, then the girl started breathing again. AMR ambulance service arrived on the scene and was there for about half an hour. The girl is reported to be doing well.

Kolheim said, “That day we had a lot of good citizens from our community trying to help out, and just making sure we had enough room to do what we were supposed to do to help save the little girl.”

Luft said the lifeguards had recertified a few weeks before the event occurred.

“I think that played a huge role in the fact that we were able to remember what to do and help the girl out and make sure she was safe,” Luft said.

Tyler Mitchell, the city Parks and Recreation Department director, said he was proud of the job they did and that they were paying attention.

Mayor Andrews said at the council meeting where he suggested the plaque that he wanted to give recognition to the the entire staff – “the lifeguards who jumped in to help, and those who handled everything to keep others back and out of the way. The whole crew did a really good job.”

In a letter to the editor to the Press, Andrews wrote, “The job of a lifeguard seems like a nice job for a high school ‘kid’ to be able to sit out in the sun all summer. But for these guards, they were ready to perform the job for which they are trained, and saved a young girl’s life. I couldn’t be more proud of these lifeguards and the exemplary way they performed their duty.”