Recreation Therapist

Department of Mental Hygiene

5/16/1970

Special Act Award (Gold)

On May 16, 1970, Charles Edward Fitzpatrick, Recreation Therapist with the State Department of Mental Hygiene at the Dewitt State Hospital in Auburn, was at the confluence of the north and middle forks of the American River in the Sacramento area when he found a young man in the water not breathing. Mr. Fitzpatrick applied mouth-to-mouth resuscitation for nearly an hour before a patrol car arrived. Mr. Fitzpatrick then got the victim back across the river on a rubber life raft, having to stop midway to administer more resuscitation.