LIHU‘E — A Kalaheo man died at Wilcox Memorial Hospital Wednesday after nearly drowning at Po‘ipu Tuesday afternoon, according to a county spokesperson. Mary Daubert, county public information officer, Thursday said the part-time Kalaheo resident, whom she did not identify
LIHU‘E — A Kalaheo man died at Wilcox Memorial Hospital Wednesday after nearly drowning at Po‘ipu Tuesday afternoon, according to a county spokesperson.
Mary Daubert, county public information officer, Thursday said the part-time Kalaheo resident, whom she did not identify by name, passed away Wednesday after being pulled from the ocean near the Sheraton Kaua‘i Resort Tuesday afternoon.
Millard Hendrickson was first discovered motionless in about 10 feet of water off the Sheraton Kaua‘i Resort by Gordon Feliciano, 41, of Denver, Feliciano said.
Feliciano said he was swimming at Po‘ipu, in water around 10 feet deep, when he saw something in the water that at first he thought was a pile of limu (seaweed).
He swam up to take a closer look, discovered it was a man, underwater, with no snorkel, and when he pulled Hendrickson to the surface his lips were blue and he wasn’t breathing, Feliciano said.
Other visitors helped Feliciano pull Hendrickson to shore, where cardiopulmonary resuscitation was administered by bystanders for around 10 minutes before American Medical Response ambulance professionals arrived, said Feliciano.
A county press release states that Kaua‘i Fire Department Ocean Safety Bureau lifeguards from Po‘ipu Beach Park arrived via personal watercraft and took over CPR efforts, joined later by KFD firefighters from the Koloa fire station.
Feliciano said he heard American Medical Response ambulance professionals say Hendrickson was in cardiac arrest, and they deployed an external defibrillator.
Hendrickson was not breathing and had no pulse or heartbeat when he was put into the ambulance, said Feliciano.
Feliciano called The Garden Island when he read the online report of the near-drowning, because he thought Hendrickson had died.
He said he was encouraged to hear Hendrickson survived, though sad that he was in critical condition, before news was received Thursday afternoon about Hendrickson’s death.
If Hendrickson’s death is confirmed a drowning, it will be the first drowning death on Kaua‘i this year.
Feliciano is in Hawai‘i to deliver the eulogy at the funeral of Vivian De Soto Kilborn, mother of the Rev. Harold Kilborn, who is pastor of Koloa Church and Feliciano’s uncle. Feliciano, a computer programmer, spent some time on O‘ahu and Kaua‘i before returning home this week, he said.
Vivian Kilborn, 81, had been staying with her son in Koloa, and also lived in Pearl City on O‘ahu. She had cancer, received care through Kaua‘i Hospice, and died on Christmas day at her Koloa home, Feliciano said.
