Posted on 08/02/2012 6:03:00 PM PDT by grundle
VANCOUVER, Wash. -- Seventeen-year-old John Clark, a senior at Hudson's Bay, says he didn't think twice about running into the ocean to save a drowning 12-year-old.
But what he hasn't stopped thinking about, is the bill he received as a result of his effort.
What started at Rockaway Beach
The guardian angel is busy this week teaching Boy Scouts to tie knots. It's a far cry from the sand at Rockaway Beach nearly a month ago -- when John Clark heard screams for help from a 12-year-old swept out to sea.
The call for help came just five days after Clark had been certified as a lifeguard.
"He had to do something," said Dan Clark, John's dad.
So John Clark dove in -- through the breakers and heavy swells -- to reach the boy in the ocean. Then he calmed the boy down, and kept him afloat.
"I don't know exactly how big the swells were," Clark said, "but they were big enough to push both of us underwater -- all the way down to where we were touching sand."
Jet skis arrived and pulled both of them to shore.
John had a headache, and the 12-year-old was wrapped in a blanket to warm up. Into the ambulance they both went.
'When we got the bill it was a shock'
Clark thought the trip to Tillamook General Hospital was standard procedure; he didn't give it a second thought until several weeks later ... when the bill arrived.
"I am extremely proud of him," his dad tells KOIN. "When we got the bill it was a shock."
The emergency room bill came to $449. The physician's bill was $227. The 15-mile ride in the ambulance to Tillamook: $1,907. The total bill for saving a young man's life? Nearly $2,600.
"I had a feeling there would be a bill," Clark said. "But I didn't know how much it would be, and I kind of feel bad for the fact that it's so expensive. But I couldn't just let the kid go -- I had to do something."
John Clark is a lifeguard at the Firstenburg Community Center pool and the Marshall Community Center in Vancouver. He's the youngest of nine kids; his family is trying to make arrangements to get the bill paid.
Too bad they didn’t wash ashore dead a few miles north. It would have been free.
This article was on Yahoo earlier today and many were complaining about the lifeguard getting billed.
Had your initial reading been correct, I too would have agreed with your conclusions. I do agree that the article, as does so much of what passes for journalism today, is poorly written.
Pssst, the kid is from Vancouver, Washington. The beach where the near-drowning happened was in Oregon.
Thank you...
At 17 he's probably none the wiser of how these situations work. He should've declined treatment at the scene but it appears he was talked into going to a hospital to be examined.
The article doesn't say if he has insurance, through his parents or other outlet, that might cover the bill. It's a poorly written piece designed to get someone else to pay.
Wouldn’t they bill his employer?!? He got the headache directly from saving a drowning kid while on duty. It’s a work-related medical issue.
John Clark is a lifeguard at the Firstenburg Community Center pool and the Marshall Community Center in Vancouver, Washington. He was not a lifeguard at the beach (I thought he was too), but he was just there and reacted using his trining..
He used his training too.
After the bill arrived I think the parents ALSO had a major headache.
WRONG. that's what triage is for. big myth used by drug seekers that claim "chest pain" to get bumped to the head of the line, then yap about my chronic back pain and ran out of lortab. I've had toe pain come in via ambulance that gets sent right out to triage and then the waiting room.
First come first serve is prehistoric. Oh and if you do lie just to get to the front of the line and the nurse finds out..well you might spend the rest of the shift in "time out".
Ahhhhh. No good deed goes unpunished.
Two thousand bucks for a fifteen-mile ride in an ambulance?
He’d have been better off to hire a limo and a couple of hookers.
No wonder everybody’s screaming about the high cost of healthcare.
Was that on June 23rd at Table Mountain?
Thanks.
Lots of stitches, staples, bruises and such, but he’s back to work.
“Was that on June 23rd at Table Mountain?”
Not sure about the exact location, but that was about the date he fell.
I happen to hear the call on the scanner. Never found any news items on it so always wondered if it was a local or someone from out of town.
I pray he has healed/is healing well. Must have been a very scary experience for him. Please give him my best.
I’ve never heard of that before. EMTs are taught that a competent adult can always refuse care and transport. Doing either without consent can leave a medic open to criminal charges.
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