Wednesday, June 27, 2001
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Wednesday, June 27, 2001 |
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On vacation, Fayette EMT saves a life By JOHN MUNFORD
A peaceful vacation in Panama City for Fayette County Emergency Medical Technician Richard Rumbaugh turned into a life-or-death situation when he rescued a drowning teen caught in the ocean's undertow several weeks ago. As Rumbaugh and his wife, Mary Beth, prepared to leave for dinner one evening, she heard the cries of a little girl from the beach. A young girl was struggling to stay afloat in the current of the undertow, and Rumbaugh dashed toward the ocean. "I saw her go under before I got to the water," Rumbaugh said, although he couldn't estimate how long it took to reach her. "My adrenaline was just flying." After he reached her vicinity, he dove underwater, grabbed hold and began hauling her back to the beach. Meanwhile, another paramedic who happened to be nearby was helping rescue the girl's father, who had tried to save his daughter although he couldn't swim himself. Meanwhile, Mary Beth comforted the 2-year-old girl on the beach who was watching her sister and father drown. "It traumatized her," Rumbaugh said. Rumbaugh and the other paramedic, who was also vacationing in the area, used rescue breathing techniques to revive the victims. Neither had lost their pulse, so CPR wasn't needed. "I felt really lucky, because I thought I was the only one there who knew how to do this," Rumbaugh said. "It was their (lucky) day. It's very unusual for two people with that kind of knowledge to be there. Somebody was looking out for them." Minutes later, an ambulance appeared and took the victims to the hospital. "I knew she had a good chance because I saw her go under, and it was only a couple of minutes before I got to her," Rumbaugh said. His only regret was not being able to contact the family again to find out how the girl and her father were recovering. "I was pretty tired at the time," Rumbaugh said, recalling the moment the ambulance arrived. "I never got the chance to talk to them again, and when I went by the condo they were staying at, I guess they had already left." Rumbaugh, 46, shrugged off the spotlight during an interview Tuesday morning, saying any one of his co-workers with the Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services would have responded the same way if placed in that situation. "I know guys who have pulled people out of burning buildings and not gotten credit for it," Rumbaugh said. "There are a lot of guys here who could get better paying jobs, but they just love doing the job. When you can help people, it's a good feeling." Jack Krakeel, director of the fire and emergency services department, said he was extremely proud of Rumbaugh's actions at the beach. ""It speaks well for the caliber of employees we have here in the county," he said.
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