TULSA, Okla. — A man is alive today after two lifeguards at a Tulsa pool performed CPR after he fell unconscious and stopped breathing.
Mayor G.T. Bynum awarded Gus Rolston and Julianna Pope the CityStar award on Monday for saving the man’s life in a parking lot at McClure Park.
On June 19, a man in the parking lot near the pool became unresponsive and stopped breathing. The man’s friend ran to the pool’s fence and called for help.
Pope quickly answered the call.
“I started giving CPR, I took the mask out, so we could do proper mouth-to-mouth,” Pope says. “They already had 911 on the phone, and we did about 8 or 9 rounds of CPR before the ambulance and fire trucks got there.”
Then — Rolston arrived.
“I got the defibrillator and sprinted out there and put the chest pads on him,” says Rolston.
The man eventually started breathing again, on his own. Bynum recognized Rolston and Pope by awarding them with the CityStar award.
Both lifeguards say while it’s rare for them to use their CPR training, knowing it, can be the difference between life and death.
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