15-Year-Old Lifeguard Saves Toddler First Day On The Job

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A lifeguard at Charles A. Foster pool in Lakewood had a very eventful first day at work last Thursday. Things quickly turned dangerous in just a matter of minutes:

Lifeguard Jack Viglianco, 15, says, “I heard like a help, ah, kind of thing. And I looked over and I saw a guy who’s probably like 3’6′, in the 4-foot water and gasping for air.”

The victim was a little 4-year-old boy who was at the pool for a summer camp field trip.

Viglianco says the young boy was bobbing up and down, yelling for help.

Not only was it Jack’s first day on the job, it was just 20 minutes into his shift, when he had to put the lifesaving skills he had just learned to the test.

“Active drowners can still breathe, and they’re still above water, but they are still in the act of drowning,” said Viglianco.

Lakewood aquatics manager Matt Demaline said, “Jack activated our emergency response plan. He got down off the chair and jumped in and helped the kid to safety. He had just completed also a five-hour orientation the day before for all of our new and returning staff and we were ready to go, day one.”

Lakewood’s aquatics department said the scary scene proved to be a reminder to parents and caregivers about safety at the pool. Things can take a turn for the worse in the blink of an eye.

“Never let them out of your sight. That’s what I do with her, no matter where we’re at or where we go, she can’t go where I can’t see her,” said grandmother Eileen McCray.

Jack Viglianco says being a lifeguard is a passion and his dream come true and his first day on the job, he says, is one he’ll never forget.

“I was realizing that I just saved a kid’s life. And that is something not many other people can say. Nothing my friends have ever said.”