Lifeguard Harry Bell Saves A Life Before Even Reporting for Duty

  • Lifeguard

Seventeen-year-old Fenwick High School senior Harry Bell didn't anticipate how critical freshman year health class would prove, but the importance of his training hit home in January 2014, when his father suffered a heart attack.  Certified in CPR thanks to the class, Bell instinctively took action, completing over five minutes of chest compressions until his mother relieved him due to fatigue.  Together they saved his father's life, keeping the oxygen pumping to his brain until an ambulance arrived. 

Bell's father, Eric, survived the heart attack thanks to Bell's and his mother Brigette's quick actions.  Coincidentally, a bill to require all Illinois high school students to learn how to administer CPR effectively, and how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED), was circulated in October 2013, and this spring Bell testified in Springfield in support of the measure.  The bill passed, and Bell traveled to Bloomington-Normal to watch the bill being signed into law on June 5.

As Bell has already had to act to save a life, he feels prepared for his first summer lifeguarding at Elmhurst's pools.  He had actually already planned to become a lifeguard before putting his CPR training into action.  "It's different in a pool setting, though, because you have to extract the person from the water before potentially performing chest compressions," Bell said.  Not surprisingly, Bell relishes his role as a lifeguard.  "You're the watcher, in charge of keeping everyone safe," Bell said.  "Knowing that I'm able to take action in the face of an emergency is a really good feeling."  Soon, a feeling every Illinois high schooler will know.