Va. Beach firefighter helps save a life in Fla.

By Kelly Farrell

Naples (Fla.) Daily News

MARCO ISLAND, Fla.

Three bystanders’ day at the beach was, well, no day at the beach, as they helped revive a lifeless body on Marco Island.

The Allexander family, enjoying spring break, had just arrived at Marco’s South Beach on Tuesday afternoon when they heard a scream for help coming from the water.

An older woman had collapsed in the water and appeared to be lifeless, they said.

“That’s the first thing we ran into when we got there,” said Dave Allexander, 51, of Michigan.

Mary Bavaro, 74, of Smithtown, N.Y., lay motionless in the water as Allexander’s wife, Dawn, and their two daughters looked on.

Allexander’s brother-in-law, Chris Jiminez, pulled the Long Island woman out of the water and up to the beach.

Allexander, a former emergency medical technician in Michigan, ran to assist.

Meanwhile, Amy Mack, 40, of Virginia Beach was lying in the sand with her teenage children and their friend, celebrating their spring break by resting in the sun, when she heard a scream for someone to call 911.

Mack, a Beach firefighter and paramedic, immediately assisted.

Bavaro "was not breathing and didn’t have a pulse,” Mack said. “It was chaotic. Everyone wants to help. They were saying, ‘Do this. Do this.’ I knew exactly what I was doing.”

The strangers, who are now called heroes for not hesitating to help, include Mack, Heidi Icon of Fort Myers and Allexander of Saugatuck, a coastal community in southwest Michigan.

Allexander said Mack was the ultimate professional.

“You couldn’t find a better person to work with. I thought the world of how well Amy controlled the scene. That’s what it takes,” he said.

Allexander, despite saying his CPR skills are a bit outdated, said it’s the second time the training helped save a life off-duty. He still gets a call every year from a man he saved in a golf course pro shop about seven years ago.

The annual call gives him a great feeling, he said.

“I would like more people in the world to learn CPR so they can experience that,” Allexander said.

“It’s not a glory day for Amy or myself ... but man, this CPR is crucial for people to learn and be able to initiate right away instead of having to wait for an officer to get there. That’s what saves lives,” he added.

Due to the difficulty of getting the chest compressions deep enough on an older person, Mack had to break some of Bavaro’s ribs to save her, Allexander said.

When Marco Island police officer Robert Sims arrived on the scene, he helped a growing crowd to disperse as police officer Tony Spina prepared an automated external defibrillator, Sims said.

Kimberly Richens of Columbia, S.C., comforted and calmed Bavaro’s nearby family members, police said.

Mack said it was the first life she helped save while off-duty.

“I told some of my buddies at work what had happened. They were like, ‘That’s what all of us would love to have the opportunity to do,’” said Mack. “I told them, it’s not fun when you don’t have all your equipment and you can’t give the person what you think they need.”

Marco Island Fire Rescue Department officials soon arrived and took over with additional equipment.

One boost from the AED and relief came for those working to save the Long Island woman’s life.

“She was trying to gasp for breath, and I was like, 'Awesome,’” Mack said.

Police brought Bavaro’s daughter, Maryann Haverline, 49, of the Long Island suburb Massapequa, N.Y.; two grandchildren; and Josephine Degaetano, 79, of Brooklyn N.Y., to Naples Community Hospital Downtown to remain by her side.

The near-death situation started with a family photo, Degaetano reported to police. She and Bavaro were standing in the surf and were turning around, when Degaetano said she looked and saw Bavaro facedown in about two feet of water.

Bavaro, who responders said suffered a severe heart attack prior to the near drowning, was in intensive care through Tuesday evening and was in a special care unit in critical condition on Wednesday afternoon, hospital officials reported.

Allexander said he couldn’t say enough about the crucial help of the Virginia Beach firefighter.

“I hate being put on a pedestal, but with training ... she made it easy for me. We worked really well together,” he said.

The two spring break strangers, Mack and Allexander, say they both await hearing how Bavaro is doing, but know they’d done all they could once she was breathing.

“At that point, it ended up the best it could have,” Mack said. “My kids and I have said some prayers.”

Click here to see this story at Naplesnews.com.