Latest / The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi / Near-drowning survivor Sherisse Domingo reunited with rescuers

Transcript

Near-drowning survivor Sherisse Domingo reunited with rescuers · The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi

• 0:15
  Welcome to the One Oahu podcast.
• 0:16
  I'm your host, Brandi Higa,
• 0:17
  and this week we're joined by some pretty incredible people.
• 0:21
  First off, ocean Safety Lieutenant Brian Moniz.
• 0:24
  His four year old son, Hunter, won his, EMT
• 0:27
  Micah Sundine and, one of their recent patients in Sherisse
• 0:31
  Domingo.
• 0:32
  We are here because there was an incident, an emergency call
• 0:36
  on October 4th of this past year.
• 0:39
  Come with me.
• 0:39
  Because we seem to have someone who will help me.
• 0:42
  One. Two. Three. Four.
• 0:44
  Hold on. One.
• 0:45
  Two. Three. Four. Johns.
• 0:48
  I won't stop compressions.
• 0:49
  Let's keep going.
• 0:52
  One. Two. Three.
• 0:53
  Four. One.
• 0:55
  Two. Three.
• 0:56
  Four. One. Two. Three. Four.
• 0:59
  Keep going until she starts to wake up, people, don't stop.
• 1:03
  Come on.
• 1:04
  Don't stop CPR, okay?
• 1:06
  You guys are doing good.
• 1:08
  If he starts to get tired.
• 1:09
  Have somebody switch out with him.
• 1:12
  Water something on her mouth.
• 1:14
  Okay, that's water coming out of her mouth.
• 1:16
  Yeah, we have our,
• 1:20
  Department of water.
• 1:22
  I mean, how.
• 1:23
  Okay, I'll turn her head to the side.
• 1:26
  Her mouth and nose is clearly clear right now.
• 1:29
  Airway's clear.
• 1:29
  Is she breathing?
• 1:30
  Is her chest rising and falling?
• 1:32
  What I but she is fine for you.
• 1:35
  Yeah. Very nice.
• 1:36
  Okay. She's breathing.
• 1:39
  Yeah. She's British.
• 1:40
  Okay. I said I messed up. I'm going to.
• 1:42
  Start off with. With Cherise.
• 1:44
  Can you tell us what you remember about that day?
• 1:47
  So we were out celebrating my auntie's
• 1:50
  birthday, and it was my first time at sandbar.
• 1:54
  So we were just having fun.
• 1:55
  You know, we're just.
• 1:57
  I was in the water with my fiancee, and, my auntie's husband were on the boat,
• 2:02
  and so it was my auntie and her two friends.
• 2:05
  We were just, like, swimming.
• 2:06
  And we we weren't aware how far we were going until,
• 2:11
  you know, the tides came
• 2:12
  in, and I panicked, I think, because I couldn't reach the ground.
• 2:17
  And so I just kept kicking and kicking.
• 2:20
  I don't know for how long, but I got tired
• 2:23
  and the last thing I recalled was, I was swallowing
• 2:27
  a bunch of water, and I was just thinking, oh, maybe this is it.
• 2:30
  And that was it.
• 2:31
  I woke up from the hospital right after.
• 2:34
  Yeah, that's kind of where your memory ended.
• 2:36
  And then, Ryan, if you could pick that up, what's the situation that you came
• 2:40
  across and everything that happened once you kind of forgeries.
• 2:43
  Well, Manhunter, we were on our jetty having a great day.
• 2:47
  We were kind of on our way home at that point.
• 2:52
  I just remember
• 2:52
  looking over and seeing some commotion, I.
• 2:55
  I thought to myself, I'm like, that looks like somebody doing CPR in that boat.
• 3:00
  And so, you know, I told my son, I say, let's go take a look.
• 3:05
  Let's go check it out.
• 3:06
  And we pulled up and the good Samaritans were already on the phone.
• 3:11
  I know one, and they had initiated CPR.
• 3:17
  So that's where I,
• 3:19
  you know, I asked my son, I'm like, would you be okay if I jumped on this boat?
• 3:22
  And they help these people?
• 3:24
  You know, he's four years old.
• 3:26
  So he looked at me and gave me the thumbs up and he said, yeah, let's go help.
• 3:32
  You know, and I jumped on the boat and they took over the CPR.
• 3:38
  I'm a CPR instructor.
• 3:39
  As a lieutenant, I've helped with training a few times,
• 3:43
  and so I guess the CPR instructor me came out and I pulled up.
• 3:47
  Initially I was, you know, kind of coaching the person doing CPR to,
• 3:52
  you know, a little faster and harder and, you know, lock your elbows and like,
• 3:57
  you know, and then one of his friends said, hey, uncle, can you help?
• 4:01
  I'm like, yeah.
• 4:02
  And that's when I really talked to my son.
• 4:05
  And he jumped on and took over the CPR case.
• 4:08
  And all I wanted to know was when Ocean Safety was going to be on the water.
• 4:14
  One point I, I want to tell.
• 4:16
  Must take that boat into shore to cut back on the time.
• 4:20
  I just didn't know how much time.
• 4:22
  You know, I didn't have any equipment with me.
• 4:24
  I didn't have a defibrillator.
• 4:26
  I didn't have any oxygen.
• 4:28
  I didn't have anything.
• 4:30
  Except these people I didn't know.
• 4:34
  Yeah.
• 4:34
  So I just.
• 4:35
  I just kept doing CPR.
• 4:38
  And I couldn't believe when I saw.
• 4:41
  Take a breath.
• 4:43
  And then I start taking another breath.
• 4:45
  And then I started to take another breath, and I'm like, oh, she's breathing.
• 4:49
  She is breathing. And,
• 4:52
  and then, here at ocean safety's on the water analysis music
• 4:55
  to my ears and knew they'd be out there within a couple minutes.
• 4:59
  And sure enough, I started seeing them and I said, Hunter, wave to the lifeguards.
• 5:03
  We need they need to see us because there was a lot of boats out there,
• 5:07
  and I just told them,
• 5:08
  hey, make sure to wave and scream for help because we want them to see us first.
• 5:12
  So they come straight to us and that's what happened.
• 5:16
  And I, I passed it over to the lifeguards that, you know, we're all friends.
• 5:23
  And that
• 5:24
  was pretty much my story at that time.
• 5:27
  It was.
• 5:28
  Once I passed them over to Ocean Safety,
• 5:31
  it was it it was it was done.
• 5:34
  And I looked at my son and I said, are you okay?
• 5:37
  He said, yep.
• 5:39
  And then he looked at me and he said,
• 5:41
  oh, so dad, that you help “randos.”
• 5:45
  Yeah.
• 5:45
  I said, well, but everyone is random.
• 5:48
  And I don't know who they are.
• 5:50
  So yeah, I guess they do help, but.
• 5:52
  I mean, you are off duty.
• 5:53
  And to put it into perspective, right?
• 5:55
  So when you're at the sandbar, he, he you left him on the ski.
• 5:59
  I left him on. There and jumped onto another boat.
• 6:00
  He was still probably within your vision. You could still see him right.
• 6:03
  Next to the boat.
• 6:04
  And one of the good Samaritans, I asked them, I said, can
• 6:07
  you hold on to my ski, my son?
• 6:10
  And they said, of course.
• 6:11
  And you know, I was doing CPR and I'm he's right next to me.
• 6:16
  They just kept watching him.
• 6:17
  Eventually he climbed onto the boat with us, and then he was on the boat and,
• 6:22
  and then that's where the rest of it kind of happened.
• 6:25
  Okay. Hunter, were you scared?
• 6:27
  I mean, like he asked, is it okay if he left you for a little bit to go help?
• 6:31
  You know, like you said, randos. You didn't know who these people were.
• 6:34
  Was it kind of scary that he left?
• 6:35
  You know? No.
• 6:37
  And then when you knew that the uncles from the other lifeguards were coming,
• 6:41
  what did you. What did you do?
• 6:43
  Like, what am I supposed to do if I if I know that I want them to find me?
• 6:46
  How do I scream? What do I do with my hands?
• 6:48
  What did you do that day?
• 6:50
  Swim! Help!
• 6:51
  How did you do that? Show me how.
• 6:54
  Your hands real and how you do it that day.
• 6:56
  Yeah. Okay. You made yourself nice and big.
• 6:59
  Yeah.
• 6:59
  And Micah, I mean, like, he mentioned CPR.
• 7:04
  It's hard to do on land.
• 7:06
  And if you see it in person or if you try it, it's kind of violent looking.
• 7:10
  To do it on a boat. How difficult is it?
• 7:13
  I have never tried CPR on a boat, so I couldn't even couldn't even tell you.
• 7:16
  But like you said, CPR on land is is very.
• 7:18
  It can be difficult.
• 7:20
  So. Yeah, I
• 7:21
  can't imagine what it's like to be with a bunch of people and
• 7:25
  the ocean.
• 7:26
  Waves and all that.
• 7:28
  And how common is it for?
• 7:29
  I mean, you guys respond to scenes
• 7:30
  all the time to see so many bystanders jumping in like that.
• 7:34
  It it varies.
• 7:37
  But typically there's, there's a lot of bystanders who are willing
• 7:40
  and wanting to help.
• 7:41
  I wish more people
• 7:43
  would be trained more, but it's advised to do CPR,
• 7:47
  like bystander CPR saves lives, as we see.
• 7:51
  So I wish there was a little bit more of that.
• 7:54
  But it is it is amazing that people are willing, so quick to jump in and help.
• 7:58
  Being, trained, as a rescue worker
• 8:01
  and learning high performance CPR.
• 8:05
  Part of that is if you're by yourself, you're doing compressions only, right?
• 8:09
  You're not breathing anymore for anybody.
• 8:12
  I didn't know who anybody was in that boat.
• 8:15
  I didn't know, obviously the patient.
• 8:17
  So I was doing compressions, only high performance CPR.
• 8:21
  And I've never done that.
• 8:22
  I've always had a team of people.
• 8:25
  So for me, that was truly amazing.
• 8:28
  But just to do high performance CPR and to watch her
• 8:31
  start breathing again was pretty mind blowing.
• 8:34
  Yeah, but but are you saying.
• 8:36
  But part of. It is.
• 8:39
  Well, when we can laugh now.
• 8:40
  Because the reason why we're all here is that this is a good day.
• 8:44
  This is a good outcome to know, Cherise, that you made a complete recovery.
• 8:49
  No deficits at all. Knowing your medical background.
• 8:51
  Because you do have knowledge in this field.
• 8:54
  What was your reaction?
• 8:56
  Well, I don't know.
• 8:57
  I was just saying I was in awe that I survived
• 9:00
  because like, I was telling myself, like, this is it like,
• 9:04
  you know, from the time I was in the water and like when I finally woke up,
• 9:08
  I was like, wow, I made it, you know?
• 9:11
  And it's truly amazing.
• 9:13
  Because I know CPR is not easy.
• 9:16
  I've done CPR on a real patient and she didn't make it.
• 9:20
  And it's just it's so hard, like,
• 9:24
  to to get someone back from CPR sometimes.
• 9:28
  And for me, when I learned that I had CPR on myself,
• 9:31
  I was like, wow, that's amazing that I'm still here.
• 9:36
  I made it.
• 9:37
  Yeah.
• 9:37
  I'm one of those people that that 30%.
• 9:40
  Yeah. Ryan, what about you?
• 9:42
  When you found out the news, she was completely fine.
• 9:44
  I was shocked. I was completely shocked.
• 9:47
  I mean, if you saw what I saw, I wasn't fine.
• 9:51
  It wasn't fine.
• 9:52
  I, like I said earlier, I did have hope once.
• 9:55
  I did see her starting to breathe.
• 9:57
  And that was amazing to me.
• 9:59
  And then the like for it's pulling up right then and there.
• 10:02
  My coworkers also amazing.
• 10:05
  Those guys responded so quick.
• 10:08
  That's pretty awesome in itself.
• 10:10
  To travel across all of Conway, being able
• 10:12
  to drive their truck to launch their jet ski.
• 10:16
  You know, from getting the call to getting to me, like,
• 10:18
  those guys are amazing, too, as well as the paramedics that were there.
• 10:21
  They were ready.
• 10:23
  You know, they they took good care of the patient.
• 10:25
  Obviously all the way down to the doctor who, you know, manager at the hospital.
• 10:31
  It's a truly amazing outcome.
• 10:36
  They we all heard it already.
• 10:37
  It doesn't happen too much.
• 10:38
  I've done a lot of CPR cases, and it seems pretty accurate about,
• 10:42
  you know, two out of ten will survive around there.
• 10:48
  Yeah.
• 10:48
  And, I'm also surprised because, you know, being down for so long,
• 10:53
  the doctors and the nurses were all thinking, I was going to be brain dead
• 10:57
  because of the lack of oxygen, and that's so long of a period.
• 11:01
  And so they were all like, you know, just waiting for me to wake up.
• 11:06
  And so once I did, like they were all just amazed.
• 11:10
  And, you know, it was a really a miracle.
• 11:12
  They were calling me miracle of the month because I had no neurological
• 11:18
  deficits, like no brain fractures or anything.
• 11:22
  And, you know, everything just seemed normal to me.
• 11:25
  Like I'm back to my old self.
• 11:27
  Nothing really happened
• 11:28
  except for, you know, my rib fractures and just the recovery period from there.
• 11:33
  So I'm so grateful and I'm so thankful for that.
• 11:37
  How has that changed your life?
• 11:38
  Well, I, I can't really do the things that I did before.
• 11:43
  Like, I would, you know, I would be on weight restrictions, on what to carry.
• 11:49
  I go to PTO once a week, for about like a month now,
• 11:54
  going into two months, and everything was so painful.
• 12:00
  Would my chest like it hurt to cough?
• 12:03
  It hurt to sneeze.
• 12:04
  It hurt to lie down straight on my back.
• 12:07
  I couldn't I for the past month, I had to sleep upright.
• 12:11
  And that was very uncomfortable because I'm more of a side sleeper.
• 12:15
  So I've had to learn how to like, still sleep
• 12:18
  and that that gave me rib pains as well because of my posture.
• 12:22
  So but now everything's, you know, I've been taking it easy
• 12:27
  and I've been just on full recovery mode.
• 12:30
  So right now I'm in no pain.
• 12:33
  I'm just, you know, hoping I don't strain myself even more.
• 12:37
  So I'm just taking it really easy nowadays, and I'm just very grateful.
• 12:42
  And you are also a nurse. Yes.
• 12:46
  I am a new graduate.
• 12:48
  From shaman. And.
• 12:50
  I graduated in May, and I passed my licensure in July.
• 12:55
  And so, you know.
• 12:58
  Yeah.
• 12:58
  So, right now I'm a new nurse. China.
• 13:01
  Just find my career and touch people's lives with my story.
• 13:06
  Yeah.
• 13:07
  Hunter, I ask Cherise and and the others, but, you know,
• 13:10
  to find out that someone you helped made a full recovery.
• 13:14
  That doesn't happen all the time.
• 13:17
  What does that mean to you?
• 13:18
  What was your reaction?
• 13:19
  How do you feel about that?
• 13:21
  Bad. Yeah.
• 13:24
  That. That she was.
• 13:25
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 13:26
  It was so bad that you saw her like that, right?
• 13:29
  But then when you got to see her
• 13:30
  after the doctors took care of her, she's here, sitting next to you.
• 13:33
  How does that make you feel?
• 13:34
  Good. Yeah.
• 13:36
  And so what do you want to be when you grow up.
• 13:38
  I'm a biologist.
• 13:40
  Yeah. Why.
• 13:42
  Because I want to look at just.
• 13:47
  Is that what you were doing that day.
• 13:49
  Are you looking at the ocean?
• 13:50
  What kind of things did you see?
• 13:52
  You don't remember?
• 13:53
  Yeah. It's kind of like it's two months ago now.
• 13:55
  But we saw some fish on your snorkeling and coconut island.
• 14:01
  Are you a good swimmer?
• 14:02
  Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes.
• 14:05
  Winter swell season coming up.
• 14:07
  More vacationers.
• 14:08
  College kids are coming home.
• 14:09
  Others coming home as well for the holidays.
• 14:12
  Ryan, what's your what's your advice for folks as they hit the water?
• 14:17
  I mean, know your limits.
• 14:19
  You know.
• 14:21
  If you can't swim or lifejacket, that's that.
• 14:24
  People know where you are.
• 14:25
  File a float plan.
• 14:27
  If you're on a boat.
• 14:29
  Yeah.
• 14:29
  Just let people know where you are and knowing your limits.
• 14:34
  Swim near a guarded beach.
• 14:37
  You know, all that helps.
• 14:38
  As well as knowing CPR.
• 14:43
  Yeah.
• 14:43
  I mean, I think to me,
• 14:44
  honestly, I feel like the biggest thing is just kind of knowing your limits and,
• 14:48
  you know, not just chancing everything.
• 14:53
  Thanks.
• 14:53
  You better.
• 14:55
  Thanks to, you know.
• 14:58
  Anytime.
• 14:59
  Oh, and, Hunter, what do you want for Christmas?
• 15:04
  Cutoffs?
• 15:07
  Sure. What?
• 15:07
  What do you want for Christmas?
• 15:09
  Honestly, I don't know.
• 15:13
  Yeah, I don't know.
• 15:15
  I'm not one to ask, but right now, like, I do need a job, so maybe
• 15:21
  I'm hoping to get a job
• 15:23
  and start my career as a new nurse.
• 15:25
  So that's one of my wishes for Christmas.
• 15:30
  Yeah.
• 15:30
  What are you taking from this experience into your career?
• 15:33
  Oh, I'm taking so much, like, at my most likely, like, empathy, like,
• 15:39
  just, you know, feeling for patients and how they felt just being bedridden.
• 15:45
  You know, I've been there.
• 15:46
  So I know what it feels like to always just call the nurse.
• 15:50
  And not being able to get up from bed and go to the bathroom alone.
• 15:54
  You know, I'm going to also tape it.
• 15:56
  Take in how teamwork is very important and to always call for help,
• 16:01
  even if you know something small happens, like you have a team,
• 16:05
  you should call them.
• 16:06
  So I'm always I'm going to put that, teamwork, heart and empathy
• 16:11
  into my career as a new nurse going forward.
• 16:16
  And it's been a long road to recovery so far.
• 16:18
  Up to this point for you.
• 16:19
  And I'm sure you thought about this day.
• 16:21
  But when they said, you know, we want to reunite you
• 16:24
  with the rescuers that help save you, what do you want to say to them?
• 16:27
  I really do want to give, like, my my thank yous.
• 16:32
  And I'm so grateful.
• 16:34
  I'm so thankful that they were there.
• 16:36
  And how quickly everything,
• 16:39
  was and how they work together.
• 16:41
  Like I wouldn't be here if, you know, they didn't know what they were doing.
• 16:46
  They didn't call for help on time, you know?
• 16:50
  It's just truly amazing.
• 16:52
  And I'm so very happy to be here and to meet all of them
• 16:57
  because I wasn't fully conscious at the time.
• 17:00
  So it's it's so amazing to see their faces.
• 17:05
  And I'm so glad that, you know, I made it.
• 17:09
  Hunter.
• 17:10
  Like, you know, when you go back to school,
• 17:12
  some of your friends might see you because this is going to be on the news.
• 17:16
  Oh, yeah.
• 17:17
  So, you know, when they ask you, like, what was that for?
• 17:20
  What did you do? What happened?
• 17:21
  How would you explain to them what happened?
• 17:23
  Why were you why were you standing next to the mayor?
• 17:27
  Because.
• 17:28
  Because they helped daddy.
• 17:31
  You helped them.
• 17:33
  What did you do?
• 17:35
  Help.
• 17:36
  Ryan, I'm not sure if this is like a conversation
• 17:39
  you had with him before, but not just in the water, but even on land.
• 17:44
  And A911 call is made.
• 17:45
  They usually send somebody out to the road to flag down the ambulance.
• 17:47
  You know, he had a duty of role that day.
• 17:50
  Did you talk to him about that before?
• 17:54
  No. I've always tried to include him in
• 17:58
  in every weird scenario I get myself in.
• 18:01
  And that particular day, I needed his help with, you know, I was
• 18:04
  I wanted to give him a job and to help, you know, wave wave them down.
• 18:10
  Was important.
• 18:11
  You know, there was a lot of boaters.
• 18:13
  We didn't want them wasting their time checking other boats.
• 18:17
  So, you know, that's
• 18:19
  when I asked Santa to start waving and screaming for help.
• 18:22
  So they would notice us.
• 18:23
  And then I turned around and everyone else in
• 18:25
  the boat was screaming, the waving to. So that was great.
• 18:28
  It was great.
• 18:29
  But what?
• 18:30
  Was there any point where it kind of crossed your mind?
• 18:32
  Like, what if this is a situation where he can't handle it?
• 18:34
  What is he, four years old?
• 18:35
  Well, yeah, I that's the first thing I thought.
• 18:37
  If he can't handle this, then I'm not able to jump on that boat and help.
• 18:43
  So by him staying calm and,
• 18:47
  allow me to, to do my job, which I've done for over 30 years.
• 18:51
  That helped me. Helped her.
• 18:53
  So that was important.
• 18:56
  What was the other thing that we missed?
• 18:59
  If I may, when we when we got
• 19:00
  on scene, the fact that you had a pulse was really amazing.
• 19:04
  I'll take you to the hospital.
• 19:06
  You know, got you over to the hospital staff.
• 19:08
  Yeah.
• 19:09
  We left.
• 19:09
  We came back a few hours later,
• 19:11
  and the nurses and doctors came out just like guys.
• 19:14
  She's upstairs. She's awake. She's talking.
• 19:16
  We were ecstatic.
• 19:18
  It was a great news that we almost never get
• 19:22
  to hear that few hours later was was incredible.
• 19:25
  Again, like again. Bring up your here.
• 19:27
  I'm so happy to thank you.
• 19:33
  Well, thank you all for your time.
• 19:34
  I thank you for what you do.
• 19:36
  Not just in this incident, but every day.
• 19:38
  Yeah.
• 19:38
  Thank you.
• 19:42
  All right, Hunter, you're off the hook.
• 19:43
  The one off who podcast will be taking a short recess
• 19:46
  over the Christmas and New Year's holiday, but we'll be back with you in 2026.
• 19:50
  Mahalo for all of your support in 2025.
• 19:52
  I hope you have a very merry and safe holiday season.
• 19:55
  And until next time, Aloha!