Vernon, B.C. Zamboni driver honoured for lifesaving aid | 24CA News
A Vernon, B.C., Zamboni driver, with a background in volunteer firefighting, was in the best place on the proper time when he helped save the lifetime of a stranger in February 2020.
Jonny Rockall, the sector attendant and Zamboni driver, jumped into motion when leisure hockey participant Al Winther went into cardiac arrest at Vernon’s Kal Tire Place enviornment.
On Friday, BC Emergency Health Services introduced Rockall with an award for his lifesaving efforts.
“It is an honour. I’m blessed. I can’t imagine a better outcome: Al making a full recovery, us being friends. He is an awesome guy,” mentioned Rockall.
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It all began practically two years in the past, in February 2020, when hockey on the ice got here to a sudden halt.
A participant had collapsed on the bench and was unconscious.
Rockall says he ran over to search out Winther slumped between the bench and the boards and began chest compressions.
“It was intense. The guy on the phone with 911 was trying to give me instructions…and the whole team was standing around me and guys were yelling at me, ‘Do this! Do that!’” recalled Rockall.
The hockey gamers had already gotten out an automatic exterior defibrillator (AED).
“The AED started doing its thing and it was telling me to press harder and then it said that it was analyzing and that a shock was advised. So I gave him a shock,” Rockall mentioned.
More compressions and a second shock adopted earlier than the hearth division and paramedics arrived and took over.
Winther was nonetheless unconscious and Rockall wasn’t certain how he would fare.
“Thankfully the paramedic came back a couple hours later and said that Al had started breathing on his own on the way to the hospital, that he was in a coma and we’d see what was going to happen,” Rockall mentioned.
“A few days later he woke up.”
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Rockall mentioned, by probability, he was with one other member of the workforce when he acquired the news Winther was not in a coma.
“We both got the message at the same time. It was an amazing feeling. We hugged each other. It was surreal,” mentioned Rockall mentioned.
Winther mentioned the very last thing he remembered about that day was going to the rink. His subsequent reminiscence is of waking up within the hospital.
He is grateful to Rockall and his teammates for serving to to maintain him alive.
“I was very fortunate it happened where those fellows happened to be there otherwise it wouldn’t have been a good outcome for me or my family,” Winther mentioned.
Rockall mentioned inside weeks of the incident Winther was capable of stroll again into the world.
“I just happened to be there and he just happened to be looking for the guy that saved his life. I looked up onto the concourse and…I had the chills. [I] went up and gave him a hug and I said, ‘You are looking a lot better than the last time I saw you,’” Rockall mentioned.
The pair have since turn into buddies and had been each readily available as Rockall acquired the Vital Link Award on Friday.
“Be thankful for every day that you have and do what you can to support your fellow human beings. If you can, get your CPR training and learn how to use the AED,” mentioned Winther.
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