On Tuesday morning Phoenix Fire Department Chief Mike Duran along with First District Councilwoman Ann O'Brien, and the City of Phoenix Parks and Rec Department presented Life Saving awards to the lifeguards, and Cortez Pool aquatics staff who sprang into action and saved the life of a 4 year old child who was found unconscious in the pool on a very busy Memorial Day.
District one City Councilwoman Ann O'Brien said “On Behalf of the entire community I want to extend our heartfelt gratitude for your incredible service. Your bravery not only saved the life of a young girl, but also reinforced the trust and confidence we have in our lifeguard team. Often when we think of first responders our minds immediately go to Police and Firefighters, but in our public pool's lifeguards are the first responders."
Desmi Cordell is in her 4th summer as a lifeguard with the City of Phoenix, she credits the trainings they receive and take part in regularly for the quick actions she and her teammates took on that day.
She said “It really clicked, uh, we all kind of went ok, you go here you go there ok go! And then we just immediately went into our action plan and we did it successfully, it shows how much our training every Saturday really does kick in and it just makes me happier knowing that we know how to do our job, we do our job everyday and we can do it.
Chief Duran echoed Desmi's thoughts and emphasized the importance and quality of the training provided by the city for the lifeguards.
“I think this goes back to the wonderful training that our parks and aquatics department provide for our lifeguards obviously this is something very impactful to them because they followed every step that they were trained and performed to do so and yes, although they are young this goes back, again, this credit to the program that the City of Phoenix and aquatics department provides for our lifeguards and what they do, and the teams that they develop and train out here and monitor, to their staff to their managers and supervisors who are out there watching right, and supporting these folks so that they can make sure that our community is safe when they are here at the pool.
