Pacific Region Surgeon honoured for saving teammate’s life
By Lookout Production on Jan 31, 2024 with Comments 0
(Left) Paul Addison, Victoria Curling Club President, Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Currie, Canadian Forces Health Services Pacific Region Surgeon, Paul Rober, Sportsman League President, Keith North, Doug Butler, E. David Hodgins and Ross Nichols, St. John Ambulance members, and James Keogh, Victoria Curling Club General Manager, gather for the award presentation at the Victoria Curling Club, Dec. 16, 2023. Photo: Don Allan
Peter Mallett,
Staff Writer
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St. John Ambulance has honoured Lieutenant-Colonel (LCol) Andrew Currie, Regional Surgeon Pacific, for his life-saving efforts outside the workplace.
He and his Victoria Curling Club teammate Doug Butler are the latest St. John Ambulance Life-Saving Award recipients. The awards were presented to LCol Currie and retired paramedic Butler during a ceremony at the Victoria Curling Club on Dec. 16.
Earlier last year, the pair administered vital cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to a teammate who had suffered a heart attack and collapsed on the ice during one of the club’s Sportsman League games.
LCol Currie says the situation presented some unique and unfamiliar challenges to him despite his years of experience as a medical doctor.
“As a clinician, you try to stay calm and detached to perform effectively and efficiently, but this was much more emotional,” said LCol Currie. “It is much different when you know the person you are trying to save in a large rink full of people watching. It became eerily silent as time went on before the EMS team arrived.”
The incident occurred on the morning of Feb. 11, as the curlers had just begun a game. After throwing one of the first rocks, they noticed their teammate Keith North had lost consciousness and collapsed on the ice.
“Keith had just thrown quite a good stone that I was sweeping,” recalled LCol Currie. “I looked back, and it quickly became obvious he was in a great degree of distress, and Doug and I rushed to help him.”
LCol Currie and Butler immediately began CPR. The pair performed CPR for approximately eight minutes until first responders with the Victoria Fire Department arrived with life-saving equipment.
“I was tremendously worried that I was working on a teammate who was not going to pull through because a long resuscitation without a response did not fuel much optimism,” said LCol Currie.
Once the EMS team arrived and provided additional treatment, North was bucking the [breathing] tube and spontaneously breathing, LCol Currie said. First responders indicated North survived thanks to Butler’s and LCol Currie’s efforts.
During the awards presentation, LCol Currie and St. John Ambulance volunteer E. David Hodgins emphasized the importance of military members and civilians receiving CPR instruction and updating it regularly.
“St. John Ambulance is proud to recognize these two men for their heroic actions in a life-saving emergency,” Hodgins said. “These exceptional individuals are honoured with St. John Ambulance Life-Saving Awards for their swift and skilled response during a critical incident.”
LCol Currie is happy to report that North has recovered and is back on the rink with his teammates.
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