Newell native honored for helping save girl’s life
A Newell native recently was honored for helping to save the life of a 4 year-old girl in July. At the annual volunteer recognition dinner hosted by the American Red Cross Westmoreland Chapter, Stephanie Wilson was honored as an outstanding volunteer.
Stephanie Wilson, a Red Cross-certified lifeguard and a sophomore at Waynesburg College, is a volunteer swim teacher at Crystal Pool in Fayette City each summer.
One day in July, after swim lessons were over and Wilson began her shift at the pool, warning whistles went off. When Wilson approached her fellow lifeguards to help out, she saw one of her swim lesson students on the ground receiving CPR. The girl, Emily McCullough, had mistakenly gone down the ladder in the deep end of the pool and fell in but was unresponsive since being pulled out of the water. Wilson, relying on her first aid and CPR training from the Red Cross, stepped in to assist.
After a number of unsuccessful rounds of CPR, Wilson suggested to the other rescue volunteers to turn McCullough over and apply a sharp blow to the back. This action allowed McCullough to aspirate water and take a breath on her own. An ambulance crew arrived shortly afterward and took McCullough to Mon Valley Hospital.
“I know the training I received from the Red Cross works,” Wilson said. “I don’t consider myself a hero. I was just doing what I was trained to do, and thankfully it all came together at a very critical time.”
Wilson acknowledged the Red Cross training program as superb and said she is proud to be a volunteer.
Co-owner of Crystal Pool Ed Stefanick added, “Stephanie is an exceptional girl. She reacted instantly and without hesitation. When she saw what was unfolding that day, she immediately jumped in to help and remained calm and focused. I cannot say enough about how lucky we are to have her on staff.”
Wilson’s grandmother, the late Catherine Stevenson of Fayette City, started the swim lessons program at Crystal Pool in 1955. Today, Wilson and her mother, Cindy, operate the program.
Wilson, a volunteer for the Red Cross for eight years, is a Bonner scholar and Bonner leader at college. The Bonner program is based on scholarship awards for community service. Wilson is majoring in digital media and information technology, with a minor in computer science.