$2,600 Thank You Bill

Jiro

Jiro

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Lifeguard gets bill after ocean rescue - Koinlocal6.com
VANCOUVER, Wash. -- Seventeen-year-old John Clark, a senior at Hudson's Bay, says he didn't think twice about running into the ocean to save a drowning 12-year-old.

But what he hasn't stopped thinking about, is the bill he received as a result of his effort.

What started at Rockaway Beach

The guardian angel is busy this week teaching Boy Scouts to tie knots. It's a far cry from the sand at Rockaway Beach nearly a month ago -- when John Clark heard screams for help from a 12-year-old swept out to sea.

The call for help came just five days after Clark had been certified as a lifeguard.

"He had to do something," said Dan Clark, John's dad.

So John Clark dove in -- through the breakers and heavy swells -- to reach the boy in the ocean. Then he calmed the boy down, and kept him afloat.

"I don't know exactly how big the swells were," Clark said, "but they were big enough to push both of us underwater -- all the way down to where we were touching sand."

Jet skis arrived and pulled both of them to shore.

John had a headache, and the 12-year-old was wrapped in a blanket to warm up. Into the ambulance they both went.

'When we got the bill it was a shock'

Clark thought the trip to Tillamook General Hospital was standard procedure; he didn't give it a second thought until several weeks later ... when the bill arrived.

"I am extremely proud of him," his dad tells KOIN. "When we got the bill it was a shock."

The emergency room bill came to $449. The physician's bill was $227. The 15-mile ride in the ambulance to Tillamook: $1,907. The total bill for saving a young man's life? Nearly $2,600.

"I had a feeling there would be a bill," Clark said. "But I didn't know how much it would be, and I kind of feel bad for the fact that it's so expensive. But I couldn't just let the kid go -- I had to do something."

John Clark is a lifeguard at the Firstenburg Community Center pool and the Marshall Community Center in Vancouver. He's the youngest of nine kids; his family is trying to make arrangements to get the bill paid.
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Wasn't the bill for his own treatment? It reads as if he is paying the kids bill when in fact it is his own. I also read that is has been paid for him anyway. :)
 
I did read somewhere else it was paid for.

That was a great rescue. I just wonder if someone would have told the boy to not swim this far, this wouldn't have happened.
 
Update:

"...Two anonymous donors quickly stepped forward this week after Clark's story on KOIN-TV's website went viral and offered to pay his hospital bill in full. The station reports that Clark also has received "countless offers" to help with the tab from people in states as far away as Arizona, Wisconsin and Florida. "People like that need to be rewarded when they do something like that," Philip Doyle said, calling the station Thursday from Florida. "This was a total, selfless thought. A lot of other people would have walked away, but he did what any sensible person would do in this situation: He guarded someone's life. I am totally moved by this story."

Meanwhile, reports indicate that Robert suffered hypothermia, and Clark's father, Dan, told The Columbian that any additional donations received for John’s medical bills will be donated to the boy's medical expenses."
Athletic Business Newswire - Lifeguard Receives Financial Help After Off-Duty Rescue
 
Reba said:
Update:

"...Two anonymous donors quickly stepped forward this week after Clark's story on KOIN-TV's website went viral and offered to pay his hospital bill in full. The station reports that Clark also has received "countless offers" to help with the tab from people in states as far away as Arizona, Wisconsin and Florida. "People like that need to be rewarded when they do something like that," Philip Doyle said, calling the station Thursday from Florida. "This was a total, selfless thought. A lot of other people would have walked away, but he did what any sensible person would do in this situation: He guarded someone's life. I am totally moved by this story."

Meanwhile, reports indicate that Robert suffered hypothermia, and Clark's father, Dan, told The Columbian that any additional donations received for John’s medical bills will be donated to the boy's medical expenses."
Athletic Business Newswire - Lifeguard Receives Financial Help After Off-Duty Rescue
Click to expand...

yep. I expect this.
 
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