Sydney helped co-ordinate a rescue operation between lifeguards and the ambulance service
A 16-year-old lifeguard helped save a man's life on a Hampshire beach 13 minutes after starting the first day of her new job.
Sydney Horsted was called to help a man with a suspected heart attack near the Pyramids leisure centre during her first patrol of Southsea beach on Sunday.
Sydney then helped co-ordinate the rescue operation between lifeguards and the ambulance service.
She described it as a "bit of a shock".
The teenager qualified as an RNLI beach lifeguard earlier this year.
She and her fellow lifeguards Naomi Groome and Elliott Daley were alerted when a man began suffering chest pains on the beach.
Rogan Wheeldon, RNLI lifeguard supervisor for Southsea, said: "Sydney was on her first ever day at work when the call came through that a man had suffered a suspected heart attack.
"The casualty's condition was assessed and he was made as comfortable as possible.
"The ambulance arrived quickly and the man was taken to hospital."
Sydney, who started her shift at 10:00 BST and received the call at 10:13 BST, said: "People often think lifeguards only rescue people from the water but we do a lot of first aid work on the beach."
- Published23 July 2014
- Published28 August 2013
