First-year medical students help rescue man and two children from Erie Canal
It was supposed to be a picnic, a fun afternoon in Genesee Valley Park for new students at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and local children.
First-year medical students Sarah Nevarez, Bridget Hughes and Lindsay Wahl describe their efforts to rescue a father and two children from the Erie Canal at a press briefing at the University of Rochester Medical Center. (Photo by Brandon Vick)
But three first-year medical students, only in their third official day at the School of Medicine and Dentistry, will remember it as a day of life or death, an afternoon they helped rescue two children and their father from the waters of the Erie Canal.
The medical students—Bridget Hughes, 22, of Williamsville, N.Y., Lindsay Wahl, 23, of Pittsford, N.Y., and Sarah Nevarez, 25, of Pittsford, N.Y.—were praised by Rochester City rescue personnel and School of Medicine and Dentistry officials for their action.
Mark B. Taubman, M.D., dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry, called the medical students examples of a hallmark of the School.
“What makes the School of Medicine and Dentistry special is our focus on humanism,” Taubman said at a briefing for local media Thursday, Aug. 16, at the Medical Center. “We want to select a class of humanists, of people who really want to care and help people and save lives…we acknowledge what will always make this a very special first week: The heroic efforts of three medical students who apparently have learned to save lives before we could teach them.”
The incident, which occurred on Aug. 15, began with a father walking on the canal path with two children in a double-stroller, according to Rochester City police. The man momentarily lost control of the stroller and it quickly rolled down an embankment and plunged into the canal. The man then jumped into the canal in attempt to rescue his children.
A passerby, who was riding a bicycle on the canal path, saw the three in the canal. He rode for help and stopped at the Roundhouse Shelter in the park where the new medical students had gathered for a picnic. He explained what he had seen and also said he could not swim and did not have a cellphone.
David R. Lambert, M.D., Senior Associate Dean for Medical Student Education, and Adrienne Morgan, Senior Director of the Center for Advocacy, Community Health, Education and Diversity, asked if any students had been lifeguards or strong swimmers. Bridget Hughes, Lindsay Wahl and Sarah Nevarez stepped forward and the five ran, following the man on the bicycle.
When they arrived, the man and his children had drifted down the canal in the current and were not in sight.
“We could hear his screams for help,” Wahl said. “When we saw them, I knew right away I was going in. That wasn’t a question.”
The group found a ladder attached to the canal wall. Wahl climbed down and swam to the family. One of the children, a boy, was partially out of the stroller. She took him and swam to the canal wall with him. Lambert and Nevarez, along with Charlie Andrews of the School of Nursing, who was running on the canal path, took the child from Wahl.
“It was scary,” Wahl said. “The child wasn’t moving and his face was turning blue.”
Lambert gave the boy medical attention and resuscitated.
Hughes followed Wahl into the canal. She stayed with the father, treading water, helping to hold up the stroller and preventing the child, who was strapped in the stroller, from going under water. Hughes also gave the child what she called “rescue breaths.”
“I tried to keep the father calm, let him know help was coming,” Hughes said.
Wahl and Hughes called the father “the most heroic person.” Both also praised the quick response of the fire department rescue personnel.
“All of our thoughts and prayers are with the family, especially the children,” Hughes said.
Fire Department personnel also praised the medical students.
“What the students did is expected from us,” said Rochester City Fire Department Lt. Shaun Murray at the briefing. “But they stepped up when someone had to. Kudos goes to the ladies.”
In a statement, the mother of the children said: "It was a miracle that the right people were there at the right time."
Many people watched United States women win gold medals for swimming at the recently ended Olympics, Taubman said.
“This is another side of the story. These women deserve gold medals for what they did,” the dean said.
The boy is stable and recovering in Golisano Children’s Hospital. The girl is in guarded condition.
To view excerpts from a briefing for local media, click here.
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