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Mystery woman saves girl from drowning

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By LISA A. DAVIS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 20, 2009

CITRUS PARK - The 5-year-old girl was obviously in trouble in the pool Saturday afternoon at the Citrus Village Apartments clubhouse pool on Citrus Village Drive.

That's when a woman, clad in a bathing suit sprung into action, rescuing the girl from drowning, according to Hillsborough Fire Rescue Chief Craig Lynn.

Fire Rescue got the call just before 3:30 p.m. Saturday. When they arrived they learned this woman had performed CPR for about one minute and resuscitated the young girl.

Paramedics at the scene worked quickly to take the girl to St. Joseph's Children's Hospital in Tampa where she could get further care for what was now considered "non-life threatening" injuries. So quickly, in fact, they never got the name of the rescuer, Lynn said.

"She obviously had training," he said. "We wish we knew who it was."

She could have been a lifeguard or maybe a nurse. She seemed to be a woman who was enjoying a lazy afternoon under the hot Florida sun, Lynn surmised. Whoever it was, he said, she really knew what she's doing and it meant the difference between life and death.

"Whoever it was did a great job," Lynn added.

When the girl – whose name wasn't released because of medical privacy laws – was driven to the hospital she was doing well.

"She was making a lot of noise in the back of the ambulance," Lynn said. "That's a good thing."

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