A nurse who saved the life of a four-year-old girl who almost drowned in a pool has urged trained first aiders to be confident enough to act in emergencies.

Claire Catanzaro and her friend Alison Tabone Mirasole went to the rescue of the girl when she found herself in difficulty while enjoying herself in the pool at the Splash and Fun complex in Baħar ic-Ċagħaq.

“She was brought into the shallow part of the pool, and the relatives tried to revive her, to no avail. After having to fight to get the child on a flat ground, myself and my friend, who is a first aider, managed to bring her back to life and saved her,” Ms Catanzaro wrote in a Facebook post following the ordeal on Saturday afternoon.

Speaking to Times of Malta, Ms Catanzaro noted that though staff members claimed to be trained in first aid, they were not confident enough to act and started to panic, as did the group of bystanders who gathered around the young girl as she was taken out of the water.

“In such cases you have to act immediately. You have no time to think. You just have to act,” Ms Catanzaro said, adding she would not allow herself to panic.

By the time a manager trained in first aid and who was confident enough to act showed up, she and her friend had already performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the child.

In such situations, Ms Catanzaro pointed out, bystanders should allow trained people to act, remarking it was “a shame the employees were not trained for such situations”.

A spokesman for Splash and Fun insisted that staff members were adequately trained and that a number of first aiders were present to offer help.

Our first aider was there but the people helping were more confident and so we let them work

However, he admitted, as Ms Catanzaro and her friend appeared to be more qualified, the water park staff decided it would be better to allow the two women to give the required assistance.

“Our first aider was there but the people helping were more confident and so we let them work. It all happened very quickly but, within minutes, we had already called an ambulance,” the spokesman said.

He said that though not all fun park employees were trained in first aid, there was always a good number of first aiders in relation to the number of people at the complex. During busier months, he continued, there would also be occasions when a nurse would be on site.

The spokesman noted that while the procedures in place were the correct ones, the park’s policies would be reviewed to ensure that safety measures would continue to be of the highest standards.

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