“I want to thank everyone who was involved in saving the life of my husband”
If it were not for the new lifeguards, South Haven mayor Annie Brown does not think her husband Jeff Filbrandt would be alive after suffering cardiac arrest on South Beach.
“Team of lifeguards immediately performed CPR and when that didn’t work, they used a defibrator to get Jeff’s heart started.”
After a morning swim in the lake, the mayor says her husband collapsed while chatting with a trio of lifeguards on the beach.
“My husband’s last words to the lifeguard before he collapsed were: ‘It looks like you are going to have a slow morning’,”
South Haven eliminated lifeguards 25 years ago, but after a dozen drownings, several wrongful death lawsuits and public pressure, this year they voted to put the guards back on the beach.
“Doctors and nurses told me Jeff he was alive because highly qualified lifeguards were there to immediately perform CPR.”
City councilman Eddie Polk says the 3 lifeguards who revived the mayor’s husband are now some of the city’s most popular employees.
“They are kind of like celebrities. Three good looking guys. If they could sing, we could call them the South Haven Beach Boys. There you go.”
