Morgan Garliss-Griffith and her sister Jewelian (photo by Alan Pinon).
Part II: The Sea Colony Junior Lifeguard program is offered during the summer to guests and owners at Sea Colony, located just south of Bethany Beach, Delaware. Because of what she learned, one of the students in that program recently saved her sister’s life.
The following article appeared in The (Salisbury) Daily Times on Sept. 8, 2008.
Junior lifeguard course pays off for Shore family
Worcester girl, 12, uses CPR to save baby sister’s life
By Candice Evans • Staff Writer • September 8, 2008
OCEAN CITY – During the three-minute drive to Atlantic General Hospital, Wendy Garliss-Griffith, 40, watched her 8-month-old daughter’s face turn a deep shade of purple.
“Her chest stopped moving up and down,” said Garliss-Griffith, who rode in the car with her mother, father and three other daughters. “After reading all of the baby magazines and even taking a first aid class years ago — my mind just went blank.”
Her oldest daughter, Morgan, 12, who learned CPR during a junior lifeguarding course at the Sea Colony Beach Patrol in Bethany Beach this summer, didn’t hesitate to step in.
“I did five chest compressions and five breaths,” said Morgan, a seventh-grader at Stephen Decatur Middle School. “I was shaking and really nervous, but I watched the life come back into her.”
CPR — or cardiopulmonary resuscitation — is a life-saving technique useful in many emergencies, including heart attack or near drowning, when a person’s breathing or heartbeat has stopped. Ideally, CPR involves two elements: chest compressions combined with mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing.
“Without that junior lifeguard course, my baby would not be alive today,” Garliss-Griffith said. “Morgan saved her.”
CPR training courses are available throughout the year at various organizations such as area hospitals, community colleges and the Lower Shore Chapter of the American Red Cross.
“Learning CPR is important for everyone,” said Valerie Ruark, Basic Life Support coordinator for Peninsula Regional Medical Center. “Studies have shown that most cardiac arrests happen at home, and being trained to perform CPR can mean the difference between life and death for a loved one.”
Next month, PRMC is offering a CPR for Family and Friends “one-time, three hour” course Oct. 8, which teaches rescuers skills in CPR and relief of foreign body airway obstruction for adults, children and infants, Ruark said. The course is designed for people who don’t need a course completion card.
PRMC is also offering a Heartsaver First Aid course that combines on-the-scene first aid training with CPR for adults, infant and children and the use of the Automated External Defibrillator, Ruark said.
This two-night course — scheduled for Oct. 15 and 16 or Dec. 10 and 11– will teach attendees the type of emergency and life-saving techniques they can administer between the time an accident occurs and professional assistance arrives, Ruark said.
Those encouraged to participate include law enforcement officers, firefighters, flight attendants, lifeguards, childcare workers, scout leaders or any concerned citizens, Ruark said. This course will assist employers in fulfilling their OSHA requirements.
Morgan’s junior lifeguard coach, John Zirckel, who has been teaching the summer course for about 10 years, said he’s not surprised that Morgan successfully performed the task.
“Her father is David Griffith, captain of the Sea Colony Beach Patrol,” Zirckel said. “But she always did well in class and just seemed to pick it up.”
During his 30 years of lifeguarding, Zirckel said he has only experienced that type of emergency situation a couple times.
“It’s pretty rare,” he said. “But I always tell the kids, if you do have a baby sister or brother, it’s a good thing to know just in case, especially if you have to babysit.”
Sea Colony Junior Lifeguard course pays off for Shore family
Morgan Garliss-Griffith and her sister Jewelian (photo by Alan Pinon).
Part II: The Sea Colony Junior Lifeguard program is offered during the summer to guests and owners at Sea Colony, located just south of Bethany Beach, Delaware. Because of what she learned, one of the students in that program recently saved her sister’s life.
The following article appeared in The (Salisbury) Daily Times on Sept. 8, 2008.
Junior lifeguard course pays off for Shore family
Worcester girl, 12, uses CPR to save baby sister’s life
By Candice Evans • Staff Writer • September 8, 2008
OCEAN CITY – During the three-minute drive to Atlantic General Hospital, Wendy Garliss-Griffith, 40, watched her 8-month-old daughter’s face turn a deep shade of purple.
“Her chest stopped moving up and down,” said Garliss-Griffith, who rode in the car with her mother, father and three other daughters. “After reading all of the baby magazines and even taking a first aid class years ago — my mind just went blank.”
Her oldest daughter, Morgan, 12, who learned CPR during a junior lifeguarding course at the Sea Colony Beach Patrol in Bethany Beach this summer, didn’t hesitate to step in.
“I did five chest compressions and five breaths,” said Morgan, a seventh-grader at Stephen Decatur Middle School. “I was shaking and really nervous, but I watched the life come back into her.”
CPR — or cardiopulmonary resuscitation — is a life-saving technique useful in many emergencies, including heart attack or near drowning, when a person’s breathing or heartbeat has stopped. Ideally, CPR involves two elements: chest compressions combined with mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing.
“Without that junior lifeguard course, my baby would not be alive today,” Garliss-Griffith said. “Morgan saved her.”
CPR training courses are available throughout the year at various organizations such as area hospitals, community colleges and the Lower Shore Chapter of the American Red Cross.
“Learning CPR is important for everyone,” said Valerie Ruark, Basic Life Support coordinator for Peninsula Regional Medical Center. “Studies have shown that most cardiac arrests happen at home, and being trained to perform CPR can mean the difference between life and death for a loved one.”
Next month, PRMC is offering a CPR for Family and Friends “one-time, three hour” course Oct. 8, which teaches rescuers skills in CPR and relief of foreign body airway obstruction for adults, children and infants, Ruark said. The course is designed for people who don’t need a course completion card.
PRMC is also offering a Heartsaver First Aid course that combines on-the-scene first aid training with CPR for adults, infant and children and the use of the Automated External Defibrillator, Ruark said.
This two-night course — scheduled for Oct. 15 and 16 or Dec. 10 and 11– will teach attendees the type of emergency and life-saving techniques they can administer between the time an accident occurs and professional assistance arrives, Ruark said.
Those encouraged to participate include law enforcement officers, firefighters, flight attendants, lifeguards, childcare workers, scout leaders or any concerned citizens, Ruark said. This course will assist employers in fulfilling their OSHA requirements.
Morgan’s junior lifeguard coach, John Zirckel, who has been teaching the summer course for about 10 years, said he’s not surprised that Morgan successfully performed the task.
“Her father is David Griffith, captain of the Sea Colony Beach Patrol,” Zirckel said. “But she always did well in class and just seemed to pick it up.”
During his 30 years of lifeguarding, Zirckel said he has only experienced that type of emergency situation a couple times.
“It’s pretty rare,” he said. “But I always tell the kids, if you do have a baby sister or brother, it’s a good thing to know just in case, especially if you have to babysit.”