Two nurses were honored with a Great Save Award on Jan. 17 at Fairfield Medical Center after they rescued a family member from drowning over Labor Day weekend. Great Save Awards are presented by Community Heart Watch to individuals who provide lifesaving intervention in situations where a person’s heart stops beating.
Sydney Chenetski, who works at FMC, and Renee Chenetski, who works at Diley Ridge Emergency Department, were at a family gathering on Aug. 31 when 2-year-old Charlee Corns jumped into the pool unnoticed and began to drown. Charlee, who is Sydney’s niece and Renee’s granddaughter, was quickly pulled out of the water by Sydney after another child spotted Charlee at the bottom of the pool. Both Sydney and Renee performed chest compressions and rescue breaths on Charlee, saving her life. Now 3, Charlee was among those who helped honor her aunt and grandmother on Jan. 17 at FMC.
According to the American Red Cross, drowning is the number one cause of death for children between the ages of 1 to 4, with 87 percent of those fatalities happening in home pools or hot tubs. Charlee’s mother, Hannah Corns, said it only took a minute for Charlee to slip away from her sight and jump into the pool. Despite being CPR-certified, Hannah said she froze at the sight of her lifeless daughter, and is extremely grateful that Sydney and Renee were able to remain calm and collected in the moment so they could save Charlee’s life.
“Words will never be enough for me to express my gratitude to Sydney and my mom for performing CPR in the ‘real world’ to save Charlee after her near-drowning accident,” Corns said. “I know it wasn’t easy and I am thankful for their courage to step up in such a traumatic situation. I would like to remind others to take CPR training and be ready as you never know when an emergency can occur and whose life you could save.”
Des Belcher, RN, FMC STEMI Coordinator and Community Heart Watch member, also stressed the importance of CPR training.
“This is a truly amazing lifesaving story; statistics say that only around 50% of people trained in CPR can actually perform the intervention when necessary,” Belcher said “Not only did Sydney and Renee overcome the obstacle of needing to use their training on a beloved family member, but they were able to do it on a minor child.”
FMC offers CPR & AED training for both individuals and businesses. To learn more, contact FMC Community Educator Resa Tobin at 740-687-8477 or resa@fmchealth.org.
About Community Heart Watch
Community Heart Watch is a collaboration of Fairfield Medical Center, first responders, educators and civic leaders dedicated to improving cardiac arrest survival in Fairfield, Hocking and Perry counties. It is focused on increasing awareness and early recognition of cardiac arrest, expanding access to AEDs in the community and training the general public to start chest compressions and use an AED while waiting for EMS. To learn more, contact FMC Community Outreach Coordinator Teri Watson at 740-687-6929 or teri.watson@fmchealth.org.