16

Terrace Review’. —— Wednesday. November 27, 1991

Local lifesaving heroes recognized —

by Betty Barton

At the 80th presentation of Commonwealth Honour and Lifesaving Awards held recently in Vancouver, four Terrace residents were recognized.

Janet McGee has been head lifeguard at the Terrace aquatic

centre for the past two ‘years. She was presented with the M.G.

Griffiths Rescue Award, pres-

ented to a rescuer who applies skills and knowledge gained through participation in any proficiency program offered through the Society.

Lifesaving society marks 100th year

The year 1991 marks the 100th anniversary of the Royal Life Saving Society in the Commonwealth. As part of the Commonwealth, Canada joins the celebration of 100 years of educating and training lifesavers and lifeguards.

The formation of the Life Saving Society in England in 1891, to reduce the number of drownings prevalent in the United Kingdom at the time, was the beginning of the world- wide voluntary organization that came to be known as The Life Saving Society. In 1904, by the command of King Edward VII, it became the Royal Life Saving Society, with his majesty as patron. Her majesty, Queen Elizabeth II,

continues this tradition today.

In 1894, A.L. Cochrane, who emigrated from England, was made honourary representative of the Society in Canada. In 1911, the British Columbia and Yukon branch was formed. The RLSS Canada is now one of five National branches which make up the Commonwealth Council of the RLSS.

Today, the RLSSC has active branches in all provinces. The

national patron is his excellency the Right Honourable R. Hnatyshyn, Governor General of Canada. The patrons of the B.C. and Yukon branch are the honourable David C. Lam, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, and Mrs. Lam.

The RLSSC is‘a non-profit volunteer organization dedicated to preventing accidents and saving life in aquatic environ- ments. It has been teaching swimmers to be lifesavers, life-

_ guards and instructors since 1896, when the first lifesaving class was taught in Canada. The RLSSC, B.C. and Yukon branch asks you to join in their: Water Smart’ ‘Public Educa- tion Campaign to reduce the number of drownings that occur

each year.

Further information on the society and its programs is available from Tony Toriglia at the Terrace Aquatic Centre.

As stated in the Awards pro- gram, "On Sunday, July 7, 1994, Janet was at Furlong Bay campsite. She noticed a mother attempting to help a choking infant. Something was lodged in the child’s windpipe. Janet approached the woman and, without warning, the child stopped breathing. Janet ident-

ified herself as a lifeguard, and

putting her years of (irst-aid training to use, administered two back blows to the baby. The object cleared and the baby began to breathe."

Doug Smith, Dr. Geoff Apple- ton and Dr. Nicki Barton were awarded the Silver Medal for Meritorious Service, an award acknowledging meritorious ser- vice by a rescuer in saving life.

The awards program stated, "It was a beautiful bright day on Father’s Day 1991 when our next rescue took place. Doug Smith was swimming at Mount Layton Hot Springs pool. He started his swim in the shallow end and made his way to the deep end, Looking down into the water, he suddenly saw the body of a five-year old boy, laying

_ Spread-eagle on the bottom. He

dove deep and hooked his arm under the boy, then headed for the surface. Doug called for help.

"The boy was unconscious and non-breathing as Doug lifted him

_. up.onto the deck. Hearing the

call for help, Dr. Nicole Barton, nine months pregnant at the

THe MG: GRETA CERI ATE FAL ROPAL TEL SIRE NOCHE CANSAA

Janet McGee: | didn’t think I'd done anything special. It was

just part of my training.

began to perform rescue breath- ing and was soon assisted by Dr. Geoffrey Appleton, who initiated CPR. An ambulance was sum-

moned and the boy was rushed .

to hospital. Luckily, he sustained no injuries and, was: released, fully recovered, the next day."

. Tony Toriglia, Terrace Aquatic

time, came running over and Centre _Manager and regional

began to assess the child. She representative

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of -Royal Lifesaving, explains that any individual can make recommen- dations regarding lifesaving awards. He submitted the names of the four rescuers to Royal Lifesaving for consideration in

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their annual review process of awards to be presented. After the Board approved the recom- mendation, each incident was investigated by a volunteer from the Vancouver office of Royal Life Saving. All four Terrace candidates were notified in Sep- tember that they would be recog-

nized at the Nov. 16 awards.

ceremony.

At the Commonwealth Honour and Lifesaving Awards, 67 awards were presented to recipi- ents from throughout the prov- ince by patron of Royal Lifesaving, Lieutenant Governor David Lam and his wife. Also present were Royal Lifesaving B.C.-Yukon president Ellen Lioyd and Canadian president Steve Beerman.

Janet McGee explains that it was all very formal. They were notified by letter regarding appropriate dress for the occa- sion and then were asked to arrive catly at the reception to receive protocol instruction: how to curtsy, how to accept the award, where to stand, and how

_ to place the medal.

She says she was nervous and

_embarrassed to be so honoured,

Janet said,

“I didn’t think I'd done anything special. It was just part of my training." Doug Smith, who also attended the awards presentation, said, "My first reaction was that I shouldn’t go down, I was sur- prised that they were even con- sidering me, but I was quite pleased." Doug says the ceremo- ny gave him a much better understanding of the Royal Life Saving Society. It also helped him recognize that one of the purposes of the awards is to encourage the general public to get involved with rescue at whatever level they can. "It was

a very special event," concluded Smith,

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