by Jen Myers

Kayla Rivera, a 17-year-old Lowell High School senior, was upstairs in the Kissimmee, Florida vacation home her extended family had rented on the morning of July 14 when she heard a commotion downstairs. 

Her dad’s voice sounded tense, panicked. He was demanding to know why the sliding door that led to the pool was ajar. 

Kayla ran downstairs. 

She found her dad, Alex Rivera, in the pool, surfacing from the bottom with 3-year-old LJ, her mom’s best friend’s autistic son, who she considers her little cousin, in his arms. 

“The baby’s skin was white, pale, super pale; his lips were purple,” Kayla recalled. “You can tell, like, he’s not there. And I was just like, holy crap.”

Kayla, who learned and has practiced CPR and First-Aid at the Lowell Police Department’s Student Police Academy every summer since 7th grade, sprang into action. 

She told her dad to bring LJ to her. 

“Everyone was panicking – my mom, my grandmother, LJ’s mom, my dad, he’s panicking, shaking; he’s holding the baby and he’s shaking,” Kayla said. 

She found a safe place to put LJ down. He was unresponsive. He wasn’t breathing. 

Kayla dialed 9-1-1 and put the operator on speaker. Her mom, Yoeun Aun, tried taking the phone, but she couldn’t speak; she was in shock. 

Kayla began chest compressions while explaining the situation to the 9-1-1 operator and providing the address of the vacation rental. Help was on the way. 

“I continued the chest compressions. He was gargling up water, vomit, everything,” she said. “I put him to his side. I start patting, patting. He’s, like, choking up. And then I keep going. I keep going. He’s choking up more, again, again. But his eyes don’t open.”

LJ’s mom was screaming. Kayla’s mom was yelling at her not to hurt the baby. The neighbors were looking over the fence to see what was going on. Kayla had to tune out all of the distractions. 

“I’m giving him chest compressions. I put him on his side again. I pat him, pat him, pat him,” she said. “I put him down. Chest compressions again. He opened his eyes. Everything came out, and he started crying. He started crying and crying. His skin and lips went back to their normal color.” 

First responders arrived and brought LJ to the hospital. He stayed overnight for observation, but made a full recovery. 

“The next day he came home, put on his life jacket and asked to go in the water,” Kayla said. “At first he seemed a little scared, but we told him he was okay and he relaxed. He really loves the water.” 

Kayla said the experience made her realize how quickly someone can drown. Her mom and LJ’s mom had turned their backs for just a second as they were packing up for an excursion to a farm an hour away, when LJ bolted. 

When he entered the pool there was no splash. There was no noise at all. He just went in and slipped under the surface. 

Upstairs, she could hear them calling for him and her initial thought was that he ran away from the house. She knew if he did, she would have to be the one to run after him; she found her good sneakers. She thought of the lake across the street and those infamous Florida gators. 

So, as harrowing an experience as the pool drowning was, Kayla is thankful that she did not have to wrestle a gator. Although, she definitely would have. 

Kayla credits her poised response directly to the skills, discipline, and leadership she learned at the LPD Student Police Academy for middle school students, which she began attending as a student in 7th grade and has worked as a staff member the last two summers. 

“At first I didn’t want to go, but my parents told me I’d learn a lot,” she said. “When I first learned CPR I was so young and I figured I would never use it.” 

When she returned from Florida, she told Garret DeJong, who teaches CPR at the academy, how what he taught her saved a life. 

“He saluted me and was just so proud,” she said, adding that her actions have become used as an example to explain to the students the importance of paying attention and learning these skills.  

At the August 14 graduation ceremony for 5th and 6th grade cadets, Kayla was presented with a special award and life-saving citation by DeJong, a long-time paramedic and EMS professional who owns and operates Force One Group, LLC, a company that provides First-Aid and allied health professional education.

DeJong, who has taught at the student academy for 19 years, said when he received the text from LPD Officer Mindy Purcell about what had happened in Florida, “it was like liquid nitrogen had been poured down my back.” 

He explained that being found at the bottom of a pool in the warm Florida water ends badly in most cases. He was stunned and pleased to learn LJ had recovered fully. 

“It is incredible that she (Kayla), a civilian, with an hour of training a year was able to stay calm and save a life when the adults were losing their heads,” he said, adding he is very proud of her and thrilled to see the training he provided put to use. 

“I am extremely proud of her,” added Purcell. “I have watched her grow from a cadet to being a staff member and she is the epitome of why we do this program.” 

Kayla is the academy’s biggest promoter. 

She said she sees a lot of kids at the beginning of the three-week session who say they don’t want to be there because they don’t want to become cops. That is not what the academy is about, Kayla explains. 

“It teaches you a bunch of stuff,” she said. “ Like, obviously CPR and First-Aid.

You do your math classes. You do English classes. You learn leadership.

You learn discipline. You learn how to be a role model and a good citizen.”

Kayla said she recommends the academy to all of her relatives and her friends’ younger siblings.

“I actually love this camp a lot; that’s why I became a staff,” she said. “I look forward to it every summer.” 

Kayla’s 13-year-old sister, Aleysha, a student at the Stoklosa Middle School, attends the program and had a front row seat to watch her big sister put that training to use. 

“She was just, like, watching everything,” said Kayla. “She was just like, holy cow. Like, you know, she doesn’t have the same reaction. She’s only 13.”

In a couple of weeks, Kayla Rivera will start her senior year at Lowell High School where she plays volleyball and is a member of the U.S. Air Force Jr. ROTC. Following graduation she plans to either enlist in the military or go to college, with the goal of becoming a police officer. 

For more information about the LPD Student Police Academy: https://lowellpolice.org/student-police-academy/