North Greenville student gives life-saving advice after rescuing a man on golf course
Abbi Webb, Assistant Editor
Lauren Childs, a junior on the North Greenville women’s golf team, was standing on the 16th green at a recent tournament when she saw an elderly man lying face down in the grass.
Lauren Childs, a junior on the North Greenville women’s golf team, saved an elderly man’s life at the Founders Credit Union-Converse Fall Invite tournament held Sept. 15-16, 2014. She has been playing golf since she was a freshman in high school in 2008.
Childs said she was just trying to get out of the way of her playing partner when she noticed the man trying to get up. When Childs rushed over to the man and saw that he was in need of medical help, she signaled for her playing partners, Erin Penland of Converse College and Haley Tucker of Spartanburg Methodist College. Some spectators and coaches were also present with the man, Childs said.
Childs and her partners knew they had to get the elderly man, 66 years old, in an upright, stable position. They proceeded to hold the man up, elevate his feet and take his shoes and socks off, said Childs.
“We got him flipped to his side so in case he was to vomit, he wouldn’t choke. He had grass all over his face, he couldn’t breathe or talk to us,” said Childs. “He looked in shock to be honest,” she added.
One of Childs’ playing partners took the man’s pulse.
“His heart was going crazy,” Childs said. “His pulse was super fast.”
“We sat with him until the ambulance got there,” said Childs.
It was in these moments of waiting that Childs said she used some of the best life saving advice she can give.
“When I first got down there I first made sure that the lawn mower was shoved out of the way and that everything was clear of him, and second we made sure he was in a stable position,” said Childs. “But the best live saving advice I can give you is prayer.”
“The whole time I was just standing there praying and crying and praying,” said Childs. “That’s all I could do.”
There is no concrete explanation for what happened to the man, but he is recovering, Childs said.
The tournament was held Sept. 15-16, 2014 at the Carolina Country Club in Spartanburg, S.C., for the Founders Credit Union-Converse Fall Invite. The North Greenville Crusaders finished second in the tournament. Childs is a elementary education major who gives God the credit for what happened to her that day.
“Nothing that we did saved his life,” she said. “It wasn’t us at all. It was God that was there. He was all around us.”
