Bystanders saved the life of a six-year-old girl who nearly drowned in Lake Chestermere Saturday, EMS said.
EMS were called to Anniversary Park, on the shore of Lake Chestermere, for reports of a young girl floating face-down in the water at about 11:30 a.m.
“Fortunately, she was floating close to the surface,” said EMS spokesman Stuart Brideaux.
Bystanders dove into the water, pulled out the girl and brought her to shore, attempting to warm her up and put her in the recovery position. By the time paramedics got there, she was awake and talking.
“When we arrived at the scene, the mom was with the patient, though it was a different bystander who found her,” said Brideaux.
“How exactly this occurred, we’re not sure. It seems accidental in nature.”
Brideaux said EMS and the bystander don’t know how long the girl had been floating in the water.
“The way she was able to improve relatively quickly by simply being removed from the water suggests it had been a short period of time,” he said.
Paramedics took the girl to the Alberta Children’s Hospital in stable, but serious condition. Brideaux said the girl seemed fine, although other breathing and respiratory issues are possible if she inhaled lake water.
It’s important parents keep a close eye on small children close to water, Brideaux said. They’re the most vulnerable group for near-drownings, and can easily lose their footing and fall.
“Ankle-deep water is still dangerous,” he said, adding that the girl was in deeper than that.
“If something were to occur accidentally, a few centimetres is enough for a young child to have an emergency.”
Young kids and inexperienced swimmers should always wear life jackets near the water, even if using another flotation device like a raft or a tube.
