Lifeguards save elderly heart attack victim's life after plucking him from Chorley swimming pool

The three employees at All Seasons Leisure Centre are being hailed heroes for their quick-thinking deeds.

The drama unfolded at the Chorley Council-run pool on Friday afternoon.

One of the lifeguards was 21-year-old Joe Vickers who among others on duty, was with colleagues Alex Lowe and Matt Hawthorne.

Joe, who lives in Buckshaw Village, was on reception at the time.

He explained: “Alex jumped in for the guy who had had a heart attack.

“Then I heard the alarm go off. I’ve run down and there’s a guy dead and we dragged him out.

“Me and Matt dragged him out while Alex was in the water.

“We spun him round, We saw that he wasn’t breathing.

“Matt started chest compression, I was monitoring his breathing.

“The next thing the defib came out. I put one pad under the arm and put one on the chest and took it from there.

“That revived him. We noticed he started breathing. His eyes were rolling into the back of his head.

“That’s when we all just stopped for a minute.

“Then the paramedics came and took it from there.”

Joe, who has worked at the pool for just under four years, said: “Obviously I was scared, but you don’t know how much of the training comes into place.

“I think the adrenaline makes you do it, you don’t even remember.”

Joe said he thought the man was aged “70-80” and that he knew him as a regular user of the pool.

Joe said: “There were about six or seven people in the pool and three inside the small pool.

“Some didn’t event realise what was going on, some people saw it all.”

Joe, who originates from Bolton and attended Little Lever High School, said the life-saving actions were a real team effort with other staff.

Emergency services attended the incident.

The North West Air Ambulance was also scrambled, but the crew was stood down en route, said the charity.

North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust said: “An ambulance, advanced paramedic and rapid response vehicle attended the leisure following a call at 14.27 reporting a person falling unwell in the swimming pool. We took a male patient to the hospital.”

Councillor Bev Murray, Executive Member (Early Intervention) of Chorley Council said: “Lifeguards entered the main pool at All Seasons Leisure Centre to assist a swimmer with a serious medical incident.

"Our staff acted quickly and professionally to administer first aid until an ambulance arrived and took the swimmer to hospital. Incidents like this don’t happen very often but when they do the regular training the teams at the centres have becomes invaluable.

Our thoughts are with the gentleman and we wish him a speedy recovery.”