Alice Springs 12-year-old Hayley Deans nabs bravery award for daring pool rescue to save her friend
The quick thinking of the young Alice Springs local helped prevent a tragedy in the Red Centre, when she used recently learnt swimming skills to save her friend in her time of need.
One young girl’s quick thinking and use of recently learnt skills has saved her friend in her desperate time of need in Alice Springs – and earned her a commendation from the Chief Minister for doing so.
Hayley Deans, 12, has been awarded the Chief Minister’s challenge coin for a daring pool rescue in Alice Springs – which her mum Megan Deans is attributing to skills she recently learnt at school swimming lessons.
“If it wasn’t for Hayley’s actions, it would have been an entirely different story,” Ms Deans said.
“We’re extremely proud of Hayley and what she did, the way that she stayed calm in the situation and managed to get to get the child out of the pool on her own was huge.”
Young Hayley leapt to the rescue when she noticed her friend unresponsive in the pool, where unbeknown to Hayley, her friend was having a dire medical episode.
Seeing her friend slumped in the water, Hayley told this masthead she remembered the skills she learnt at swimming lessons and leapt into the water.
“I jumped into the water to go get her and I was kind of, like, holding her up so she could, well, breathe if she could,” she said.
“And then I brought her back to the side (of the pool), but it was pretty hard to get her up.
“I don’t know, the thought of just, like, her not making it kind of made me strong enough to pull her out of the water.”
Luckily, she was near her parents house, who after a phone call ran over and contacted authorities and put Hayley’s friend in the recovery position.
Hayley’s friend and her family have requested privacy in the wake of what happened, but have commended her for her quick thinking.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has also publicly commended young Hayley, meeting with her to personally award her the challenge coin in Darwin.
In a letter to Hayley, Ms Finocchiaro wrote the Alice Springs local “showed great courage, and smart thinking, when your friend needed it most”.
“You are a true hero, Hayley, and an inspiration to your friends, your school, and your community,” Ms Finocchiaro wrote in her letter.
But Ms Deans said the reintroduction of free school swimming lessons – an election promise by the CLP – was the integral factor in the successful save.
“This just goes to show like why swimming is so important, and we have we have so many kids in the community that don’t know how to swim properly or are not strong swimmers,” she said.
“They were only at that pool for 15 minutes – it took for 15 minutes for that to happen.”
For young Hayley however, who’s coming into her final four weeks of primary school before she graduating, she’s quietly confident she’s on the right track for her chosen career path: saving people.
“I definitely want to be a part of, like, the triple-0,” she said.
Originally published as Alice Springs 12-year-old Hayley Deans nabs bravery award for daring pool rescue to save her friend
Crisp win to take over as ANMF NT Branch Secretary
