A day at the park quickly escalated into an emotional roller coaster for a mother, her child and two new Canadians.
After a game of pickleball with friends at DeHart Park in Kelowna, B.C., Wei Wang and Rui Deng heard a call for help.
“We heard a mother crying or shouting, ‘Help, help, help,'” Wang said.
The couple saw a child choking. That’s when Deng sprang into action.
“My wife, was a professional doctor before, just rushed to the lady,” Wang said.
Deng performed the Heimlich maneuver and saved the child’s life.
Since moving to Canada last year, Deng has been working towards her goal of becoming a licensed doctor in her new home. In China, she was a general practitioner.
“I was a doctor in China for 13 years and I want to be a doctor in Canada,” Deng said.
However, there are several barriers for international doctors to become licensed in Canada, including a language proficiency test.
She has already started the process to practice in a country facing a doctor shortage.
Ty Speer, the CEO St John Ambulance for B.C. and Yukon, says that instances like this reinforce the need for everyone to become First Aid Certified.
“The main thing about first aid is you want to be prepared. You never know when something’s going to happen,” he said. “It could be something very serious, it could be something minor.”
Speer says that the training and certification gives people the confidence to be helpers in their neighbourhood. Because, not everyone is lucky enough to have a doctor walk by when a medical emergency is happening.
“Any serious blockage to an airway is very, is a very, very serious matter in a couple of minutes,” he said.
“It’s something that needs to be resolved straight away. This is not a situation where you have time to, for example, call the emergency service, wait for an ambulance.”
In this case, firefighters did arrive after Deng jumped into action.