Four lifeguards at the Rancho Bernardo Swim & Tennis Club were honored by San Diego Fire-Rescue on July 24 for saving the life of a 75-year-old man who went into cardiac arrest there on July 6.
Lifeguards Jordyn Rewa, Catalina Husseman, Trevor Damiano and Amelia Campillo were given recognition certificates to honor their calmness, fast-thinking and ability to use their training to perform CPR and use an automated external defibrillator (AED) to revive Dennis Trevisan during the few minutes before firefighters arrived to take over his emergency care.
Joining them at the ceremony were a couple dozen family and friends of the lifeguards and Trevisan, along with club board members and staff.
“I feel so grateful to be able to use my training,” said Rewa, 21, who was teaching swimming lessons when Trevisan’s wife, Sandi, found him unconscious on a pool deck chair and called out for help.
Sandi Trevisan said after the ceremony that she and her husband had been walking on treadmills in the club’s fitness center when after about five minutes her husband said he was feeling short of breath.
Sandi and Dennis Trevisan were at the July 24 ceremony to honor the four lifeguards at the Rancho Bernardo Swim & Tennis Club who saved Dennis’ life on July 6. (Elizabeth Marie Himchak)
“He was walking on it slowly, as he was getting back into shape after having two knee replacements,” she said, adding his doctor had cleared her husband for the physical activity.
Dennis Trevisan decided to sit on a pool deck chair to rest and several minutes later after finishing her workout his wife went to look for him. Sandi Trevisan said she saw him lying on the deck chair and what caught her attention was that while he was mostly in the shade, his face was in the sun. Thinking he had fallen asleep, she went to wake him, but discovered he was unconscious and called out for help.
Based upon the security footage, Sandi Trevisan said they thought her husband had a cardiac arrest about three minutes before she found him. He was revived by the lifeguards before firefighters and paramedics from Station No. 33 arrived to take over and transport him to Palomar Medical Center Escondido where Dennis Trevisan had to undergo two surgeries that included a bypass, valve replacement and treatment for heart tissue tears. He was released from the hospital on July 17.
“He’s doing really well,” she said. “It was just providence. God orchestrated to have all the right people in the right place at the right time.”
She added that his doctor said her husband’s survival was “a miracle” because he had no pulse before resuscitation and the type of cardiac arrest he had is what medical professionals call “the widow maker.”
Dennis Trevisan, whom his wife said has no recollection of the incident, expressed gratitude to the lifeguards for saving his life and was all smiles when he was reunited with Rewa, Husseman and Damiano at the ceremony. Campillo was not able to attend.
“We love to hear about successes and we have a person over here who represents a giant win,” said San Diego Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief Becky Newell of the Emergency Medical Services Division, as she pointed to Trevisan sitting among those in attendance.
Among those from San Diego Fire-Rescue at the July 24 ceremony to honor the RB Swim & Tennis Club lifeguards were PAD Program Manager Maureen O’Connor, Assistant Chief Becky Newell, Capt. Nima Biganeh and firefighters Caden McCormies and Emily Quinlivan. (Elizabeth Marie Himchak)
“This is a great example of … that duty to act and willingness to participate in something the lifeguards here have been trained to do,” Newell said. “But you’re never quite sure how you’re going to respond until you see it. This story, this sequence of events happened ideally and because of that we have a life saved.”
While the Station No. 33 crew that responded on July 6 was not able to attend due to being deployed to the Rock fire in Central California, the crew on duty on July 24 represented them at the ceremony.
“99% of the time we never see our patients again. … We never know if what we did was good, took any effect or what happened,” said SDFR Capt. Nima Biganeh from Station No. 33 in Rancho Bernardo. “So to have ceremonies like this, where we can see our work mean something and that we helped people, thank you.”
When speaking to the lifeguards Biganeh recalled starting his career as a 15-year-old lifeguard.
“I remember being young, being super excited, but also super nervous because what if something actually happens. … You guys are 100% part of our team … from the person who calls 911 to the first person who starts rendering aid, none of this would have happened,” Biganeh told them. “None of the success would have happened without early intervention, your proper training and your proper actions. … You are the reason this gentleman is here.”
Rewa, who is taking nursing classes at Biola University, said she was not on lifeguard duty at the time when Trevisan was found unconscious, but glad she was able to jump in to help.
“In the moment I felt very calm … I was just grateful for the team that was there and everyone was really calm,” Rewa said, adding days later when she found out Trevisan had pulled through, only then she felt “OK” with the experience.
“It was incredible, the team here worked so fast,” Rewa said. “I watched the (security) footage and it was literally six minutes total, but it felt like a long time. … I’m grateful to the team and grateful for the training.”
Around two dozen family and friends of Dennis Trevisan and the lifeguards who saved him, along with RB Swim & Tennis Club staff and board members attended the July 24 ceremony. (Elizabeth Marie Himchak)
Rewa and lifeguard Taylor Harper have been leading the club’s two-hour monthly training sessions since May, which they said was key to their success.
Husseman, 18, said Rewa was “a really good leader” during their resuscitation efforts. She and Damiano both said the training was crucial to their efforts.
“It was really good to see him well,” Husseman said after the ceremony. “To hear a few days after that he was in surgery, that he was awake and had no brain damage was the best possible news. That was when I could relax.”
Damiano, 17, added, “I’m really thankful that he is alright. Jordyn and Taylor taught us well, which I am thankful for.”
He said the incident also showed how good their teamwork and communication skills are since the rescue required them to work together.
Maureen O’Connor, Public Access Defibrillation Program manager for the city of San Diego, said when she told the manufacturer of the AED used about the rescue, the CEO of Philips, which made it, decided to donate the same type of AED so it can be given to the nonprofit organization, place of worship or school of Trevisan’s choice. In addition, San Diego Project Heart Beat will cover the first year of its management services.
This is the third time staff at the RB Swim & Tennis Club have saved a life. After the second time, when a man collapsed on the tennis court in 2019 and the club’s only AED was used in his successful rescue, the club’s board decided to invest in five more, said General Manager Beau Stewart.
Each cost around $1,200. They also bought AED storage cabinets, costing around $300 each, he said. Now the club has six spread out among the 10-acre facility, located at the main office, pool, pickleball court, tennis courts, gym and its Club 21 room.
“You are not more than one minute away from an AED unit,” Stewart said, praising the club’s board for making the decision to invest in so much lifesaving equipment.
He also praised Rewa and Harper for their monthly training sessions, crediting it with the lifeguards’ success in this and other emergencies, such as when an adult swimmer recently got in trouble while in the water and needed to be pulled to the side.
“It was amazing teamwork,” Stewart said of the four lifeguards who jumped into action on July 6. “They immediately had him on the ground … and fully did what we expected them to do.”
Harper, 18, said she was very proud of the lifeguards and glad the training she gave them was successfully implemented.
“I am so glad they were prepared and ready at any moment,” Harper said. “They stayed calm and I am so proud of them.”