Volume 25 Issue 15 July 14, 2017
Inside:
So, Have You Tried Rolled Ice Cream Yet? In Neighborhood Magazine
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Young YMCA Lifeguards Earn Kudos For Saving Teghan! By CELESTE MCLAUGHLIN
celeste@ntneighborhoodnews.com
On a sunny day just before school let out for the summer, the New Tampa Family YMCA pool was busy. Four teenage lifeguards were on duty as people enjoyed the pool and young synchronized swimmers were training for the upcoming Junior Olympics. Teghan Fender, a 10-year-old who has been on the synchronized swimming team at the New Tampa YMCA for three years, was participating in the practice, doing what she does most afternoons, for several hours at a time. As Teghan and her teammates were swimming laps, something about the way her legs were moving caught lifeguard Aviana Jividen’s attention. It didn’t look quite right. As Aviana watched, Teghan blacked out and sank to the bottom of the pool. Aviana jumped into action, and TJ Hernandez, another of the lifeguards on duty that day, helped pull Teghan out of the water. “We do practices every month,” recalls Aviana, “so when you actually see it happen, your adrenaline kicks in and you think of all the training that you went through.” Assisted by lifeguards Emma Cutkomp and Alfred Briceno, Aviana and TJ began lifesaving procedures as 9-1-1 was called. “They stayed calm, worked together and did what was needed to save Teghan’s life,” says aquatics experience director Lacey Boldman. “All the monthly drills and scenario practice was put into action and they remembered all the steps necessary to make the rescue quickly and efficiently. A life was saved
Also Inside This Issue: News, Business & Sports Updates Heroes Who Saved Woman From Pond Honored By Carnegie Foundation; NT Rec Center Gets Some Repairs, Curling Fever At FHCI; Local Mom Helping Military; Madison Provides Shriners Hospital Support; Lexus Dealership Set For Dec. 2017 Opening; School Grades Are Out; Soccer Players Headed Overseas & Local Business Features!
Pages 3-34
Neighborhood Magazine
Zammy Spreads His Love To Shriners’ Kids; Go Craft Yourself Anytime You Want; Irish 31 Opens; The Latest On Firehouse Subs & Frogury; Plus, More Neighborhood Nibbles & Business Bytes!
Pages 35-48
Teghan Fender (center) with the New Tampa YMCA lifeguards who rescued her (l.-r.): Alfred Briceno, Emma Cutkomp, Aviana Jividen and TJ Hernandez.
because of their vigilance and quick action.” Teghan’s mom, Brenna, was in the shower when she got a call that something scary had happened to her daughter. She immediately headed to the pool. “When I arrived, Teghan wasn’t moving, but they said she was breathing,” says Brenna. “Running out to the pool and finding it silent, with onlookers frozen against the fence while a
small group huddled together over a figure that I knew was my daughter, was an experience I’ll never forget.” Over the next couple of days, Brenna pieced together what had happened. “Teghan did several laps in a row with very few breaths,” Brenna explains. “She then attempted a 50-meter zero under, trying to swim the distance without taking a breath.”
“I thought I could make it because the wall was just a few yards away,” Teghan remembers. “The next thing I remember, I was out of the pool, lying on a towel, and I was so confused.” Tampa Y aquatics experience executive Amanda Walker explains that what happened to Teghan is called a shallow water blackout. “With shallow water blackouts, you don’t even realize sometimes that you need to take a breath,” explains Amanda. “Your brain genuinely plays tricks on you and you pass out.” Thanks to the quick action of the four lifeguards, Teghan was conscious by the time paramedics arrived, and was transported to the hospital, where she stayed in the pediatric ICU for a couple of days, while doctors ran tests to ensure that there was no underlying medical cause for her blackout. When Brenna considers that the four people who saved her daughter’s life were all just teenagers, “it was stunning to think about,” she says. “They were so attentive. It was a pool full of people, so who thinks they need to be watching the experienced swimmers? The lifeguards were so prepared and obviously took their training seriously. I absolutely credit the YMCA for that — selecting the right people for the job and training them so well.” Brenna says that on the way to the hospital, Teghan was already asking if she had to miss school the next day. She was given the all-clear to return to her fourth grade class at Lake Magdalene Elementary just in time for the last day of school later that week. Within just a couple of weeks, surprise! — Teghan was back in the pool again.
See “Lifeguards” on page 5.
Andreychuk Finally Makes The Hall...And New Tampa Shares His Joy! By JOHN C. COTEY
john@ntneighborhoodnews.com For more than a decade, a familiar face around New Tampa and one of the community’s leaders, long-time area resident Dave Andreychuk, has been greeted by many a local, eager to say hello, to thank him for the Stanley Cup he helped the Tampa Bay Lightning win in 2004, and, of course, to tell him he should be in the National Hockey League (NHL) Hall of Fame. But now...finally...those same fans have a chance to say this: “It’s about darn time!” Andreychuk received what many feel was a long-overdue call on June 26, telling him his wait was over: the former Lightning captain is an NHL Hall of Famer. “It’s a great feeling,’’ Andreychuk says. “I’m happy the call finally came.” Andreychuk, who moved into Arbor Greene in 1999 after signing with the Lightning, before his family moved to their current home in Hunter’s Green, said he was on his way to the airport when his cell phone rang around 2 p.m. He looked down and saw a Toronto number. “Can it be?,” Andreychuck thought.
Unsure if it was the media calling to ask him his thoughts on not being selected again, or someone from the NHL, he answered to discover it was Lanny MacDonald, fellow Hall of Famer and currently the chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame, with good news. “It was really a surprise,’’ Andreychuk said. “I had no idea. I immediately pulled over to collect my thoughts. It really was very exciting.” A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Andreychuk says he knew his day would eventually come. He has been eligible since 2009, and he thought each of the last two years might have been his day. This year, he says he hadn’t been giving it nearly as much thought. He only hoped that he would make it into
See “Andreychuk” on page 4.