Beachgoers come together to save swimmer

Last week, several bystanders on a Gasparilla Island beach rescued a man who was in danger of drowning in the Gulf.

On Friday, May 8, just after noon, a man was pulled from the water near the Gasparilla Island Lighthouse, or Range Light, with no pulse. Several bystanders jumped into action, pulling him from the water, performing CPR and checking his pulse until paramedics arrived. Their efforts were successful; the man was conscious and had a pulse when he was airlifted from the island.

One of the bystanders, Heather Watson, was visiting from Michigan. She was here with her boyfriend, whose mother is Debbie Eisbrener, a Gasparilla Island Lighthouse coordinator for the Barrier Island Parks Society.

“We were just hanging out and somebody started yelling for help,” Watson said. “I yelled back, ‘Do you need CPR?’ and they said, ‘Yes.’”

Watson used to work for kids’ programs at the YMCA and has taken life guarding lessons in the past. She also must be certified in CPR for her current job as a dog groomer.

“The gentleman was totally blue, it was very scary,” she said. “We pulled him up and started compressions, trying to get him some air. He started to get some color back, and another woman was checking his pulse for me.”

The other woman was Traci Norris, who lives in Cocoa Beach, Florida, but was visiting last week. She and her mother were staying in a VRBO rental in Englewood and came to the beach for the day. Norris also happens to be a nurse of 30 years with experience working in operating rooms.

“My mom and her friends were out in the water, I was up under the umbrella,” she said. “They saw him floating face up and didn’t think anything of it. The next time they saw him he was face down and that’s when we heard someone yelling for help.”

They got the man as far up on the sand as they could and Watson began CPR. His pulse was in and out, Norris said.

“I honest to goodness in my heart of hearts, being a nurse for 30 years, I did not expect a good outcome,” she said.

A man somewhere between his late 20s and early 30s, Norris estimated, helped the women carry him farther up the beach and out of the waves.

“We got his pulse back and he finally opened his eyes and was breathing on his own,” Watson said. “Medics and sheriffs showed up, and I stepped away to let them do their thing.”

Eisbrener told the Beacon that Watson performed CPR for 10 minutes, though Watson said she never stopped to think about what she was doing. “I think it was just natural,” she said. “I’m really sore and my knees are jacked up, but I don’t care about me.”

Resuscitation efforts were successful, said Boca Grande Fire Chief C.W. Blosser. “He was viable enough to fly,” Chief Blosser said. “Bystander CPR, that’s always the key, that’s huge.”

Other beachgoers helped the man’s wife pack up their beach gear and load it into the car, Norris added. By Saturday night, the man was still in the Intensive Care Unit, but stable. He is expected to make a full recovery, Chief Blosser said.