LITTLE CURRENT—Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands worker Tristen Hall was just finishing up his water rounds on the morning of Tuesday, June 18 when he noticed an ambulance at Spider Bay Marina—his day was about to take a dramatic turn.
“I was just doing my water run and I was going back into Spider Bay when I saw the ambulance there,” said Mr. Hall. “They were working on a person and EMS worker was doing chest compressions while her partner was trying to get everything all set up. So, I parked the cart and I ran over and asked if they needed assistance.”
The EMS workers was providing CPR to the victim and had been doing so for some time at that point. “I don’t know how many cycles she had done, but she was getting tired. So, they let me step in. I did it for two minutes, then they analyze, did a shock—nothing. So, we did it again. They analyzed again, then they shocked the victim again, and then he started breathing on his own and his pulse came back again.”
The revival of the victim was a huge relief to Mr. Hall.
“Oh, it was pretty cool,” he admits. ‘’Man, it was a rush. Just like I’m just I’m just fortunate that he was revived because it might have went, mentally, the other way…if? Yeah, but you know what? I’ve been taking first aid for over 20 years, right? Every time my tickets expire, and they always teach you CPR, but this is the first time I’ve had to use it.”
Mr. Hall has worked for several years in the Western oil patch and has taken first aid courses every two years.
Mr. Hall was honoured at a NEMI council meeting and presented with a certificate of recognition for his quick thinking and action.
“I don’t know if I would have been as quick to jump in, it’s been a number of years since I took the course,” said Mayor Al MacNevin. “Congratulations and please accept this token on behalf of the town of our appreciation for your quick action.” Mayor MacNevin also expressed relief that the incident had been resolved positively.
Mr. Hall said that he does not know the status of the victim after the ambulance took him to the Manitoulin Health Centre. “About an hour later, I saw a helicopter come in and fly to Sudbury, so I don’t know if that was him if he was in an ambulance going across the bridge with the lights on a while later.”
Mr. Hall was grateful for the recognition, but he stressed that he was only stepping up to help the EMS workers. “They do this kind of thing every day, they are the real heroes,” he said.
