Southcoast Nurse Saves Boy on Beach

Lois Wilding, RNC, of Charlton Memorial Hospital, went to Westport’s Horseneck Beach on May 24 expecting a little relaxation before the hectic Memorial Day weekend, but the day was anything but tranquil. Her presence proved to be both an asset and a necessity that day.

Upon arriving at Horseneck, Wilding noticed a group of teenagers who had settled not far from her blanket.

“They weren’t being loud, but I couldn’t help but be suspicious of them,” she said. “This one boy kept falling down. His friends would help him up, and he’d just fall again. I realize that kids fool around and all, but something in my gut told me that he was in trouble.”

For the next few minutes, Wilding watched the teens. One of the boys literally bent down, picked up the boy who kept falling and flung him over his shoulder.

“At that moment I knew that something was very wrong,” Wilding said. “But it wasn’t until one of the young men said ‘Let’s put him in the sand,’ that I decided to see what was going on.”

Wilding caught the attention of an on-duty park ranger and together they approached the teens.

“By the time I got over to this kid, his eyes had rolled back into his head, his nose and mouth were full of sand and he was not responsive,” she said. “I really thought he was a goner.”

Wilding opened the boy’s airway and noticed he barely had a pulse.

“I monitored him, kept my fingers crossed and waited for rescue to come,” she said. “I really expected to do CPR, but luckily it didn’t come to that.”

Eventually one of the boy’s friends admitted that the boy had drunk heavily that day. In a matter of hours, this small-framed boy had consumed half a bottle of vodka — enough alcohol to poison a man twice his size.

“Once the boy was taken to the hospital, I turned to his so-called friends and gave them a lecture on alcohol poisoning and how important it is to know CPR,” Wilding said. “It’s an invaluable tool and you really never know when you’ll need to use it.”

Luckily the boy is fine and in the weeks following the incident, his parents called Wilding, thanking her for helping their son.

“When his mother asked me what they could do to repay me, I told her to have her son send me a Christmas card every year to remind him of his second chance at life,” she said. “But knowing that a tragedy was averted is thanks enough for me. In my 30 years of nursing I have never before needed to respond to an emergency outside of the hospital. But on-duty or off, I am a nurse and I was prepared to do my job.”

For more information on how you can learn CPR, check out the Southcoast Community Calendar at www.southcoast.org/calendar/.

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