2 honored after child rescued from Newton lake

Published by The Boston Globe

Two Newton residents received community spirit awards from the mayor today for their role in reviving a 3-year-old girl who nearly drowned in Crystal Lake.

Kathleen Capstick and Dr. Alex White performed cardiopulminary resuscitation on the girl after she almost drowned in a shallow, roped-off area on Left Beach at 7:10 p.m on Friday.



The girl was struggling in water between 4 and 4 1/2 feet deep when the lifeguard on duty and the girl’s father reached her, said Bob DeRubeis, Parks and Recreation interim commissioner.

Capstick, the head lifeguard, ran to the shore and immediately began performing CPR on the girl, DeRubeis said. White, who happened to be swimming nearby, came over to help.

After the child started to recover, ambulance EMTs arrived and provided her with oxygen, followed shortly by the Newton police and fire department.

The lifeguard staff at Crystal Lake had been trained earlier that day on how to collaborate with the police and fire department when responding to emergencies. “Obviously, that training paid off,” DeRubeis said.

“I’m extremely proud of my staff,” he said. “When you’re a lifeguard, it’s a difficult job for some of these young kids; there’s a lot of pressure.”

White, a physician at New England Sinai Hospital, said he has performed CPR before on airplanes and in an airport, but the level of emergency support at Left Beach was greater than anything he has experienced in the past.

“It was a very smooth system that went into operation very quickly,” White said. “The difference between life and death is very marginal, and speed is essential.”

The girl was transferred to Children’s Hospital in Boston that night and kept until the following afternoon for precautionary measures, said DeRubeis.

She was, however, completely healthy during a visit to the mayor’s office on Monday, said Mayor Setti Warren.

“I am just so pleased that all of the members of our staff, our employees and our public safety officials all … went above and beyond,” Warren said. “And the city should be proud as well.”