USF Students Honored as Heroes by the City of San Francisco
Lifeguards Nathaniel Gonzalez ’25, Khaila Esguerra ’25, and Camila Pardi ’25 were on duty at the Koret swimming pool the morning of Dec. 13 — their last shift before winter break.
When Deborah Hicks went into cardiac arrest while swimming that morning in lane 7, they reacted quickly to save her life.
Hicks, a Koret community member who has swum for 30 years in the center’s Charles W. Dullea, S.J. Natatorium, spoke last Friday at a ceremony honoring the three students. “I’ve swum hundreds and hundreds of miles here, done open-water swimming, done lake swimming. I never thought about lifeguards; that was never a concern of mine,” she said. “But I can’t tell you how happy I am that if this had to happen anywhere, it happened here.”
Gonzalez, a chemistry major who graduates in May and plans to join the Navy Seals before applying to medical school, is a lifeguard instructor who oversees most of the in-house basic first aid/automated external defibrillator (AED)/CPR and lifeguarding courses for Koret staff. At chair 2 that day, he happened to be right in front of lane 7 and was the one who sounded the whistle and entered the water to keep Hicks afloat.
Esguerra raced over from the lifeguard desk at chair 3. The nursing student pulled Hicks from the pool (a feat Hicks noted several times at the ceremony, pulling Esguerra close to her and marveling at the more than 12-inch difference in their height) and onto the backboard. She retrieved the AED and worked with Gonzalez to provide CPR for 12 minutes.
As this was happening, Pardi, a nursing student who graduates in December, left chair 1 to call Public Safety to request assistance in clearing the pool and exits. “All the lanes were full that day, and we didn’t know where the EMTs were going to come from, so we needed the entire deck cleared to accommodate whichever way they moved her.” Pardi asked a nurse who had been swimming in a nearby lane to call 911 as Pardi helped people out of the water and into the locker rooms.
The lifeguards were recognized at a ceremony Feb. 21 for their quick thinking and professionalism. San Francisco’s Emergency Medical Services Agency, Fire Department, and Police Department, as well as a grateful group of Hicks’ family and friends, gathered on the upper level of Koret Center to honor the USF students.
As he presented the Guardian of Life Award to Gonzalez, Esguerra, and Pardi, San Francisco EMS Director Andrew Holcomb said, “I don’t think there’s anything more noble a San Franciscan can do than save a fellow San Franciscan’s life.”
Hicks thanked the three students and said, “I’ll see you back in the pool as soon as I’m allowed."
