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Father, rescuers save son from drowning

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- "Welcome Home Caleb," says the sign with colorful handwritten messages from seven siblings on his home's front door July 28 -- a sign welcoming Caleb, 15, home from a journey that was almost his last.

Caleb Jaquish and his whole family were at Club Muroc July 21 for what he said was for some much-needed fun. He and his dad, Lt. Col. Douglas Jaquish, 452nd Flight Test Squadron commander, had grilled steaks and then decided to go for a swim in the pool.

"I swam to the bottom of the pool," Caleb said. "Somehow, I went unconscious. I can remember being there for about 10 to 15 seconds, and then I couldn't remember anything after that."

Colonel Jaquish saw his son at the bottom of the pool and tried to get Caleb out. Colonel Jaquish pulled his son from the pool and felt Caleb's wrist for a pulse, but he could not find one. He called for help, and the lifeguard on-duty, Carlos Warfield, immediately cordoned the pool and assisted Colonel Jaquish. As Colonel Jaquish provided mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to his son, Mr. Warfield performed chest compressions.

A woman then cried for help inside Club Muroc, "Dial 911. There is a boy who's not breathing."

Second Lt. Ray Waterman, 95th Security Forces Squadron section commander, heard her and immediately went to the scene. Lieutenant Waterman noticed Caleb was turning pale blue. He talked to the rescuers and provided input on how to properly do cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He managed, repositioned and stabilized the head to provide adequate air into Caleb's respiratory pathway, while Colonel Jaquish and Mr. Warfield performed CPR.

Lieutenant Waterman was a prior enlisted emergency medical technician. He said he utilized his more than 15 years of experience in this situation.

"I have done CPR before as a medic, but this was different because I had never performed it during a near-drowning incident," he said. "There were 40 to 50 people around us, but the only people I can remember are Colonel Jaquish, the life guard, security forces and Caleb. Everything seemed to stand still during that time."

Doing everything they could, Colonel Jaquish, Lieutenant Waterman and Mr. Warfield performed CPR on Caleb until a small amount of water came out of Caleb's mouth.

"We didn't know if Caleb had any kind of injury, so I was taking precautions to stabilize his head and prevent further injury," Lieutenant Waterman said. "Once air was evidently coming into his lungs, the bluish color started to fade. He started coughing and gagging, and I knew we had a chance to save him. I knew he was going to make it."

Within two minutes of being alerted, the paramedics and the fire department arrived. Senior Airman Jason Alls, emergency medical technician, and Jessica Nila, paramedic, took command of the scene. The paramedics started right away on stabilizing Caleb.

The paramedics injected intravenous fluids into Caleb and placed monitors to gauge his temperature, pulse and heart beat. Meanwhile, the fire department personnel followed orders from Ms. Nila and Airman Alls by providing basic life support.

"When we got there, Caleb wasn't exchanging a lot of air just by the way he looked," Ms. Nila said. "There was still a bluish color in his skin and he was unresponsive. We tried to intubate him but we were unable to, so we just placed a bag to his mouth to provide more air. We tried to get him stabilized as much as possible."

As Caleb was being stabilized, the fire department and paramedics placed Caleb on a gurney and placed him into an ambulance. The ambulance traveled to Desert High School football field where he was airlifted to the Antelope Valley Hospital.

"The call went really well," Ms. Nila said. "We did what we had to do to help the fire department. We worked as a team to help him breath and get him to the hospital. It was a serious call but thank goodness he lived."

The whole event took place in about ten minutes from the time Caleb was taken out of the water to the time when the paramedics stabilized him.

"It seemed the longest 10 minutes of my life," Lieutenant Waterman said. "We were just there at the right place at the right time. It is definitely a reward to save someone's life. The fact that he is able to live and be a teenager again is the greatest thing."

As far as his father -- Caleb's greatest hero, inspiration and rescuer -- he was grateful for all the people who reached out and helped the family during the incident.

"We, as a family, are so thankful," Colonel Jaquish said. "We felt the love and prayers of the entire Edwards community."

As for Caleb, he came home and started right back into doing one of his favorite things -- playing chess.

"He is the same Caleb," said Debbie Jaquish, Caleb's mom, about him. "We are very thankful for the respondents who came to his aid. I believe all the prayers from friends and family helped a lot. The various commanders made sure we made it to the [emergency room] and the children were taken care of. There were people who brought us food and made sure we were doing OK."

Just as he does his chess pieces, Caleb moves forward from this experience a little more appreciative of the gift of life.

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