A group of women training to become PADI-certified mermaids help save the life of a scuba diver recently.
Elle Jimenez, an instructor who was teaching a PADI Advanced Mermaid course off California’s Catalina Island, and her students heard a cry for help from a group of three divers who had just surfaced. When they swam over, one of the divers, Pablo Avila, was unconscious and foaming at the mouth.
Elaina Thomas, one of Jimenez’s students and a volunteer EMT as well as a PADI Open Water (Scuba) instructor, started giving the man mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Jimenez wrote on her blog later:
“That image was one I will never forget and it impacted me in a way so deeply, I know at that moment this was a real life-death situation. It was as though I was looking at a corpse.”
The mermaids and their safety team managed to get Avila back to shore, where EMTs started compressions on him and restored his pulse. He was then taken to a decompression chamber and has since made a full recovery.
According to Jimenez:
“I am still shocked that this happened. I don’t think it’s something I will ever get used to. Six years ago I didn’t even know how to swim and thanks to all of the training I’ve done I am now able to help save a life.”
Check out Jimenez’s full story on her website at themermaidelle.com or watch the video below.
(Featured Image credit: NATIV Productions)
