A unique Sunrise Rotary Club project featured in this newspaper in March recently played a huge role in saving a drowning man’s life at South Beach Park.

On that spring afternoon, the three lifeguards watching over South Beach had shuttered their lifeguard station and were hosing off their all-terrain vehicles at the end of their shift when a frantic woman ran up to them and said that a man was stuck in a rip tide and needed their help.

The lifeguard staging area by the parking lot is about 600 feet from the water, the length of two football fields. Shayne Roycroft, Travis Matschner and Anthony Hernandez took off immediately, sprinting through the mangroves to the beach. As they approached the surf, they saw man in the ocean 75 to 100 yards out, struggling to stay afloat in a churning rip tide.

Their regular rescue gear had been stowed away and locked up at the lifeguard station, so they improvised. Luckily, two rescue stations with life rings installed by Sunrise Rotary volunteers were close at hand. Roycroft and Matschner each grabbed a bright orange ring and dashed toward the water.

Hernandez stayed onshore to coordinate the rescue by calling their supervisor and summoning paramedics.

The drowning man, in his late 30s or early 40s, had been swimming with family members when his young niece got caught in the strong surf. The man, whose name has not been released for privacy reasons, swam out and was able to guide the girl to calmer waters.

But he then found himself fighting the same rip current that had gripped his niece.

“Those rings are more buoyant than our regular rescue buoys, so it is very awkward trying to swim with them,” said Matschner, who is in his fourth year as a fulltime lifeguard.

When Matschner and Roycroft finally reached him, the man was exhausted and had ingested a lot of seawater. He had just enough energy left to grab hold of the life rings, and the two lifeguards pulled him to shore.

Once on the beach, the man lost consciousness. “He was very lethargic and pale, and his lips were turning blue,” Matschner said. “We turned him on his side in the recovery position with his arm stretched out” and he started to regurgitate the seawater.

“It’s very important to get all the water out of the lungs or the person could die later,” he said. “It’s called secondary drowning.”

Supervising Lifeguard Shaun Dibble arrived soon after with fellow supervisor, Lieutenant Matt Brownlee, followed by Indian River County Engine 6 and a Fire Rescue ambulance.

“Basically, the man was in survival mode,” Dibble said. “His breathing was compromised and he was slipping in and out of consciousness.”

The paramedics couldn’t use their gurney in the sand, so the lifeguards retrieved their gear and administered oxygen. Dibble rubbed the man’s sternum – a rescue technique used to assess a patient’s level of consciousness to determine whether further life-saving intervention, such as CPR, is needed.

Once the man was stabilized, fire safety personnel and the lifeguards used one of the lifeguard’s ATVs to transport the man off the beach and to a waiting ambulance.

“This is a great example of why the Rotary Rescue Stations are there,” said Justin Lefebure, who is managing the project for the Sunrise Rotary Club. “It only takes seconds. If the rescue rings weren’t available, the alternative could have been pretty ugly.”

Sunrise Rotary has purchased and installed about 80 rescue stations at public beaches in Indian River County.

While riptide rescues are fairly common, the wave conditions were especially turbulent that week, with 4- to 6-foot waves breaking close to shore, Hernandez said. The guards had raised a red flag as a warning, signaling strong rip currents and hazardous conditions, but people have their own ideas of what is or isn’t dangerous, he said.

The idea behind the rescue ring buoys is to “throw, don’t go” – toss the rings to swimmers in distress, giving them something to hold on to while catching their breath and rebuilding their strength. In this case, the man was too far from shore to throw the ring to him.

“This was definitely our most serious rescue in a long time,” said Dibble, who has been a lifeguard for 12 years. “A lot of people just don’t understand beach conditions, especially tourists. But even locals sometimes ignore the warnings.”

“It’s an amazing story,” said Fire Rescue 6 Captain Ryan Cappelen. “It was incredible teamwork. These lifeguards are very dedicated and don’t often get enough credit for what they do. Had they already left, that man surely would have drowned. The closest rescue station is quite far away.”

Sunrise Rotary has gotten approval to place additional rescue stations at Kimpton Vero Beach Hotel and Spa and gated communities including John’s Island, Sea Forest, Del Mar, and Blue at 8050 Ocean, Lefebure said.

The club has 20 of the rescue stations ready for installation and the materials to build 40 more, he said. Home Depot has already donated $10,000 in materials and has pledged to donate another $5,000 – enough to build 40 more stations. There is no cost to municipalities or communities where the lifesaving equipment is installed.

Eventually, the club would like to have life rings installed on beaches from Sebastian Inlet south to Fort Pierce Inlet, Lefebure said.

Each of the rescue stations has a QR code that people can scan for information about how to donate to the project. Donations can also be made online at www.sunriserotaryverobeach.org.