FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. – Three women were honored with the American Red Cross National Lifesaving Award in Farmington Hills.
Fana Rombou, Amy Gill, and Vanessa Tartt received their awards at The Hawk Community Center – the former Harrison High School – for saving the life of a co-worker last September.
The award dates back to 1911 and recognizes individuals who, in an emergency, utilized their lifesaving skills and knowledge to save or sustain a life.
“A peace came over me,” said Janet Dabish.
Sept. 3, 2024, is a day that Dabish will never forget, even if there are large parts of it that she doesn’t actually remember.
She was at her desk working in the dispatch office at the Costick Activities Center in Farmington Hills when it happened.
“I do remember was sitting at my desk, and this feeling of peace came over me, and that’s it,” Dabish said on Thursday (June 26). “I don’t remember anything.”
Dabish had suddenly gone into cardiac arrest and had gone unconscious at her desk.
A nearby co-worker noticed that she had been laboring to breathe and immediately called 911.
He then went into the hallway to search for help and happened upon a lifeguard, Rombou, in what Dabish calls a case of divine timing.
“When I walk down somebody from the main office, I don’t even remember who it was, but they ran up to me and said, ‘Do you know CPR?’” Rombou said.
Rombou, a lifeguard instructor with the city, has been a lifeguard for 20 years.
She first learned how to swim with her twin sister while they were students at Detroit’s Pershing High School.
“Mind you, I was in a full lifeguard uniform with the hip pack and everything,” Rombou said. “And I’m like, ‘Yes, what’s going on?’ And they said, “We need you in the dispatcher’s office.”
“They’re my angels,” Dabish said.
As Rombou performed CPR on Dabish, Gill and Tartt grabbed the portable defibrillator and got it set up to shock Dabish back to life.
Dabish woke up just as the first responders arrived.
Hannah Muth, the city’s recreation supervisor, witnessed the save and described the scene that day as chaos.
She was the person who nominated the lifeguards.
“All I could see were remnants from the AED pads,” Muth, who is also a lifeguard, said. “Everything had been thrown across the room because, in an emergency, you don’t really care about keeping the area clean.”
All of it happened in a matter of 10 minutes, and Dabish has no memory of any of it.
“I woke up once in the rescue squad for a minute or two, calling for my grandson,” she said. “And then went back out again.”
Fana credits her years of training for being able to make the save when she did.
It’s something for which Dabish is eternally grateful.
“The doctors told me if I hadn’t had a colleague, if I had been at home by myself, or in a car, I would have been dead,” Dabish said. “They’re my family, you know, they’re my angels. I wouldn’t be here without them today.”
