MADISON TWP., Ohio — The mother of a Valley View High School sophomore said the last place her daughter wanted to spend her 15th birthday on Tuesday was in the hospital.
But that’s where Olivia Kozuszek finds herself after a serious accident last week at the Land of Illusion Aqua Adventure Park.
The Madison Twp. Fire Dept. was called to the water park around 4:30 p.m. on June 21 for a report of a 14-year-old girl who suffered possible spinal injuries after falling 20 to 25 feet off an inflatable and into the water, said Jordan Peters, assistant fire chief.
“That’s a pretty decent fall,” Peters said.
He said Olivia was assisted out of the water by a brother, and a family friend and registered nurse held her neck until firefighters arrived, Peters said.
She was placed on a backboard and taken to Atrium Medical Center, the closest trauma center, he said.
Olivia’s mother, Heidi Russell, said she was called about the accident and she immediately drove to the water park. She expected her daughter to have a sprained ankle or similar less serious injury, she said.
Then she saw her daughter with a possible spinal injury.
“Very much in shock,” Russell said when asked her reaction.
Olivia, a Valley View cheerleader and softball player, has been transported from Atrium to Dayton Children’s Hospital. Doctors there are waiting for the swelling to subside before they perform spinal surgery, her mother said.
“It’s a waiting game,” she said. “They’re keeping her stable.”
She believes her daughter has torn ligaments around her spinal cord.
Officials from the water park didn’t return calls from the Journal-News.
In the days since the accident, a GoFundMe page has been established to assist the family with medical expenses. Nearly $6,000 of the $7,500 goal has been raised, according to the site.
Russell said she’s “very overwhelmed” and “grateful for the love and support from the community.”
She paused, then added: “It’s emotional, honestly.”
It's not the first time tragedy has hit at Land of Illusion.
On July 20, 2021, Mykiara Jones, 14, an incoming freshman at Middletown High School, drowned at the water park while swimming without a life jacket. Her body was found in the murky water 30 minutes after she was last seen that evening.
The next day, Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said his office was "inundated" with complaints, including allegations that lifeguards in the park were not certified, life vest rules were not being enforced and that rescue equipment was not ready in the event of an emergency.
The Butler County General Health District said it also received a complaint about the park the same day Jones drowned. A person called the health department at 11:14 a.m. on July 20 — five hours before Jones' death — and said she was at the park on July 17 and it was “over capacity” with about 600 people and no adult supervision.
The following day, two representatives from the county health department met with Land of Illusion officials and made several recommendations based on swimming pool regulations.
Because the health department has no authority over the water park, it made “suggestions only,” according to the document obtained by The Journal-News. The health department's lack of authority is tied to the park's location — on a pond.
No state regulations exist to oversee the water park, because of that location, despite state and local agencies regulating nearly every other type of water recreation area in Ohio, from splash pads to municipal swimming pools to beaches.
There was also a question of whether the park was operating an unlicensed inflatable on its grounds that could have led the park to pay fines.
When ODA officials inspected the rides on July 16 — four days before Jones drowned — there were three devices (a bungee, rock wall and inflatable slide) that the park wanted to operate on the ground, she said.
Upon inspection, the facility did not have the required documentation to complete the inspections and receive licenses, and ODA said they could not operate, Boyer said.
Two days after the drowning, the water park hired an independent investigator to undertake an assessment and gap analysis of the park’s health and safety policies, procedures and programs, it said in a release.
The investigation, conducted by Dan Wood of Industrial Safety Services of Ohio, found no violations of law or regulations during the drowning.
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