A junior hockey player who saved a man from drowning two months ago will receive an award for his heroic actions.
Ty Hurley of the Kelowna Rockets will be honoured at the 112th annual Commonwealth Awards for Honor and Rescue in Vancouver next month.
In early December, the Rockets had just embarked on a lengthy road trip through the prairies, and the team was staying at a Travel Lodge in Strathmore, Alta.
While at the hotel, the team was checking out the hotel’s hot tub area, which is when Hurley saw a fully clothed man behaving strangely in the pool.
A woman from the hotel’s front desk tried to intervene, but nothing changed and then the man went under the water and did not surface.
“It was weird, so I went into the pool area, and he was under the water, probably for 30 to 40 seconds, not coming up,” Hurley said in December.
The B.C. and Yukon Branch of The Lifesaving Society said Hurley rushed over and hauled him out of the pool, then began CPR after seeing that the man wasn’t breathing.
Hurley, who learned CPR from a course he had taken, performed 15 to 20 compressions before the man began breathing again.
“I felt like I had to be the one in that situation,” said Hurley, a 19-year-old from Sherwood Park, Alta. “It looked hopeless. Nothing was progressing. I felt he was stranded. I felt I had to be the one to step up.”
The Lifesaving Society said emergency responders quickly arrived on scene, with the man being taken to hospital in stable condition.
“Ty’s actions were acknowledged by teammates who praised his courage in handling such a challenging situation,” said the society.
Hurley said “if I hadn’t taken that course, I’m not sure if he would have been alive. I acted subconsciously, just did it and he started breathing.”
The awards ceremony, which acknowledges the efforts of those who step forward and help others, will take place at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver on March 9. Hurley will receive a silver medal of merit.
Comments