In a moment’s notice, people have to make the right decision to save someone else’s life.
That moment happened for Kelowna Rockets forward Ty Hurley in the middle of their eight-game road trip in the Prairies.
Hurley and some of this teammates were waiting in the lobby of their hotel in Strathmore, Alta. when something caught his eye through the window to the pool.
What he saw was a fully clothed man bobbing in the water and eventually submerged. A hotel employee tried to talk to the man but never jumped in.
The 19-year-old knew he had to do something.
“At this point, I decided I’ve got to do something here. This isn’t right,” Hurley recalled. “I took off my shirt and leaned over the edge (of the pool) and grabbed him by his shoulders and ripped him out of the water. He was probably under there for at least 30-40 seconds. I got him out of there, flipped him on his back and he wasn’t breathing at all. It was pretty scary.”
Hurley had taken a CPR course years earlier but never actually had to perform chest compressions on anyone before, until that Thursday, Dec. 7.
“You’re not really thinking about anything but the situation. Your mind is cleared out and you’re acting in the moment,” Hurley said. “After 15-20 compressions, he started breathing all of a sudden. That was a relief.”
Hurley’s teammate Ethan Neutens came into the picture to help as well.
“We were just hoping the guy was alright, hoping he comes out of it on two feet,” Neutens added. “It was pretty scary.”
“His pulse was weak, his hands had no colour in them at all, he’s barely breathing,” Hurley said. “We flipped him on his side and got him some towels. At this point someone had called an ambulance so we just waited there with him.”
When emergency services arrived, they took the man to the local hospital in stable conditions with non-life-threatening injuries.
“I think it’s great for everyone to do that (lifesaving courses) just in case,” Hurley said. “You just never know what situations you may come across.”
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