Moody lieutenant uses quick thinking, saves child from drowning

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Eric Schloeffel
  • 23rd Wing Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  Some instinctive thinking combined with Air Force-taught self-aid and buddy care skills helped a Moody Lieutenant revive a small child who appeared to have drowned. 

2nd Lt. John Bergmans, 820th Security Forces Group intelligence analyst, was finishing a work-out at his apartment complex's gym July 6 when he stumbled upon a grim situation. 

"I had just gotten off the treadmill and looked out to the pool located right next to the gym," said Lieutenant Bergmans. "I noticed a mother was standing on the side of the pool looking down which struck me as a little strange." 

Lieutenant Bergmans followed his instincts poolside and saw a small child lying at the bottom of the shallow end. Thinking her daughter was seeing how long she could hold her breath, the mother was not in a state of panic. 

"I stood there looking down at the pool for a few moments with her mother, and after a short while, we looked at each other and thought, 'something isn't quite right here,'" said the lieutenant. 

At that moment, the mother jumped in to pull her daughter, 5-year-old Emma, out of the shallow water. Once the child was pulled out, they saw she was limp and appeared unconscious. 

While her mother began screaming for somebody to dial 911, Lieutenant Bergmans made a mental inventory of the situation and decided to act, using self-aid and buddy care techniques he learned from the Air Force. 

"I grabbed the little girl and thought about the (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) training I received in the Air Force," said Lieutenant Bergmans. "The first thing I did was lay the girl on the concrete next to the pool to see if she was responsive." 

The lieutenant realized she wasn't breathing and tilted her head back to clear her airway to ensure she wasn't choking on anything. 

"I remembered thinking to myself, 'CPR is usually performed on a dummy or full grown adult,'" he said. "I knew I had to get the water out of her lungs before resuscitating her, so I pressed down on her stomach a few times and nothing happened." 

After this technique failed, Lieutenant Bergmans decided to take a different route and flipped the child on her stomach. He held her approximately a foot off the ground and began striking the back of the seemingly lifeless girl. 

"I wanted to create some kind of motion that would help flex her diaphragm and get the water out," said Lieutenant Bergmans. "It all happened so fast, but it probably took about 30 seconds before the water started coming out. At this point, I felt her body become more rigid like she was waking up, and she started coughing soon after." 

While the traumatic experience of waking up to a mouth full of water and a strange man beating on her back was enough to trigger the child to cry once she was awake, Lieutenant Bergmans and her mother felt relief knowing the little girl would survive the harrowing episode. 

"Once she started coughing, I felt comforted knowing she was breathing at last," said Lieutenant Bergmans. "Even though something awful had happened to her, I felt satisfaction for myself knowing I helped somebody out in a situation where they definitely needed it." 

A few moments later, an ambulance and several policemen arrived to take control of the situation. The girl was breathing well at this point, so Lieutenant Bergmans decided his work was done and left the scene. 

Though some of the techniques he used aren't typically covered in the normal self-aid and buddy care curriculum, Lieutenant Bergmans feels Air Force training gave him the confidence to take control of the situation and execute basic emergency medical care procedures, he said. 

"Quite frankly, I haven't talked to a doctor to know if I used the right technique to get the water out of her lungs," said the lieutenant. "But the basic material I learned - seeing if they are responsive first, ensuring there is nothing in the mouth they could choke on, checking if they are breathing and have a pulse - helped me take control of the situation." 

While he proved his ability to take command in stressful situations, it is the girl's family who felt the most grateful of Lieutenant Bergmans' actions that day, said Bryce Whitener, father of the child and a detective with the Lowndes County Sherriff's office. 

"The situation was a state of panic before Lieutenant Bergmans stepped up," said Mr. Whitener. "His actions saved the life of my daughter, and our family will be forever in his debt."