Five residents from around Southern Alberta were recently presented with the Canadian Red Cross Rescuer Award, the Society’s highest First Aid award.
From left to right: Matthew O'Brien, Ruth Heerema, Dawn Le-Feuvre & Justin Campbell.
The Red Cross Rescuer Awards are presented to non-professional rescuers or off-duty first responders who have: volunteered to save a life; prevented further injury and/or provided comfort to the injured; or are children who were not trained but provided help.
Justin Campbell, Dawn Le-Feuvre and Ruth Heerema received the Red Cross Rescuer Award for their dramatic save of Matthew O’Brien at Gold’s Gym in Calgary in the spring of 2007. During his regular workout, Matthew suffered a cardiac arrest. Bystanders in the gym called 9-1-1. Dawn and Ruth, both retired nurses, and Justin Campbell, a trainer at Gold’s Gym, came to Matthew’s aid. The three performed CPR and assisted Matthew for 15 minutes before the ambulance arrived. Upon reaching the hospital 40 minutes later, staff there said that CPR and the efforts of Ruth, Dawn and Justin undoubtedly saved his life. The trio received their awards at Gold’s Gym on November 8th, 2007.
Gillyana (far right) with her mom Shirley & sister Tryston.
Gillyana Thomson, age 10 and a recent transplant to Calgary, saved her grandfather from drowning this summer in a northern BC lake. Gillyana was playing on the shore when she heard her grandfather, who had swum quite far out into the lake, calling for help. Her grandpa had gone into the deep part of the lake and gotten tired. His head kept sinking under the water and he couldn’t swim back to shore. Gillyana grabbed the air mattress she’d been playing with and she dove into the water. While Gillyana was very brave, her grandpa was a grown man and she knew she wasn’t big enough to pull him into shore on her own. So she threw him the air mattress and slowly made her way back to the shore with him. Together they made it back on to dry land. Gillyana’s grandfather was in the hospital for two days recovering from his near drowning. Gillyana received her Rescuer Award on November 30, 2007 during a school assembly at Monterey Park Elementary School in Calgary.
On June 14th, 2007, Lethbridge resident Reny Vermeer was out jogging on his lunch break. While on his run, Reny came upon an elderly woman lying between two parked cars in obvious distress. She was unconscious, bleeding and had what appeared to possibly be a broken wrist. Reny revived the woman and summoned the Emergency Medical Services. He then stayed with her and comforted the lady until EMS arrived. Reny’s quick thinking and efforts to help this woman gave her great comfort at a difficult time. Reny was presented with the Red Cross Rescuer Award on November 6, 2007 at Lethbridge City Hall.
In addition to recognizing the heroic efforts of those who helped during an emergency, the Red Cross Rescuer Awards highlight the importance of first aid and CPR training. Red Cross First Aid and CPR training teaches people how to act quickly and effectively in an emergency situation.
In most Canadian cities, the average ambulance response time is more than eight minutes; meanwhile, permanent brain damage can occur four to six minutes after breathing stops. Knowing what to do in those critical minutes can save a life.
To learn valuable live saving skills through our Red Cross First Aid and Water Safety training, contact the Red Cross Contact Centre at 1-800-307-7997 or wz-contactcentre@redcross.ca.
