Child saved by bystander and paramedics after nearly drowning in Gold Coast resort pool

A two-year-old girl spent four and a half minutes at the bottom of a Gold Coast pool today. What happened in the next two minutes saved her life.

IN the space of just seven minutes triumph overcame what could have been a tragedy.

Paramedics from the Surfers Paradise Bike Response Team today took just under two minutes to get to the Rhapsody Resort on Surfers Paradise Boulevard after a reported near-drowning in the swimming pool.

The two-year-old year old girl, on a holiday with her family from Malaysia, had been found at the bottom of the pool around midday.

She had been under water for four and a half minutes before a family member spotted her and pulled her out.

Paramedics Ian Procter and Shane McEvoy powered through the Surfers Paradise traffic on their bicycles to save a young girl from drowning today. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

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Senior operations supervisor Bill Houghton told the Bulletin that the quick response of the BRT was exactly why the team had been created in 2017.

“You can’t get a better response than that, that’s fantastic,” he said.

“Because it’s such a congested area, it’s hard for the ambulance to get in through peak times and get to patients in emergency situations and (the BRT) are perfectly placed to do that.”

BRT advanced care paramedics Shane McEvoy and Ian Procter – who have 23 years of experience between them – were on scene within two minutes of the triple-0 call.

Mr McEvoy said the child “had returned to a level of consciousness and was spontaneously breathing and had cardiac output” when they arrived.

“So (we assessed) the patient and handed her over to the backup unit that had arrived,” he said.

“She was quite cool (to touch), straight out to the ambulance for further assessment and off to Gold Coast University Hospital.”

The girl is in a stable condition.

Paramedics Ian Procter and Shane McEvoy with Operations Supervisor Bill Houghton. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

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Mr Houghton said those sort of calls were “pretty nerve-racking” for paramedics, but “the training just takes over. First and foremost, it’s that patient in front of you.”

He said when they looked back over the CCTV the bystander had used age appropriate CPR.

“The child was taken out of the pool and there was really good CPR implemented by a resident or guest of the hotel,” he said.

“We’re really happy the word is getting out there… it probably saved the kid’s life.”

The BRT is so mobile they can take their 39kg bikes, including a full set of equipment, with them into lifts.

Paramedics can bike up to 40km on busy days between jobs and about 70km during special events.

They service between Main Beach and Broadbeach.