Young girl injured at Great Falls water park is now home

An 11-year girl who was involved in a "medical incident" at the Electric City Water Park on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, is now home and continuing her recovery.

It happened at about 4:46 p.m. City staff and medical personnel at the scene provided first aid, and Great Falls Emergency Services and Great Falls Fire Rescue responded to the incident.

The girl was taken via ambulance to Benefis Health System for medical care, and later transferred to a hospital in Kalispell.

According to a GiveSendGo page created to help the family:

Piper had gone down the slide and had another child land (possibly more, we are unsure yet) on top of her and it kept her underwater..she was believed to have been underwater for 1 to 2 minutes. She was rescued from the pool, CPR was performed and all attempts were made to resuscitate.

Nicole Tangen, the mother of Piper, told KRTV this week that her daughter is home now and "doing well on her journey to recovery!"

She said the first night was very scary for the family, and the days that followed were filled with amazement at Piper's incredible resilience.

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Tangen expressed her gratitude for the "huge response" from the community, saying she is "blown away and humbled," and couldn't be more grateful.

She also wanted to publicly thank Kaleigh Pond and Riley Rustvold, who she described as "the amazing, selfless heroes who pulled my daughter out of the pool."

Tangen also praised Angela S., the "brave Mercy Flight nurse who gave my daughter life-saving CPR. I would be writing an entirely different message without you three."