An off-duty paramedic credited with saving the life of a young boy at a Langford pool hopes others will take away the importance of learning CPR.
Kyle Klint and his wife Karlie Wilson were at the Westhills YMCA-YWCA pool with their two sons on Sunday when they noticed something happening below and heard the life guards’ whistle blow.
READ MORE: Lifeguards, first responders save drowning boy at Westhills pool
Heading down from one of the pool slides, Klint said they saw lifeguards pulling a child from the water and eventually beginning chest compressions.
“We noticed he wasn’t moving and he looked very, very pale and very unwell.”
Wilson got to the child first and identified herself as a paramedic before immediately starting CPR.
Klint began clearing the child’s airway with artificial respiration’s while Wilson continued CPR for the next three and a half minutes.
At that point, he began taking small breaths on his own.
About five minutes after the ordeal began, Klint said the child was crying and responsive. An ambulance crew arrived two to three minutes later to transport him to Victoria General Hospital.
READ MORE: VIDEO – near drowning captured on popular B.C. river
There was no time to hesitate, Klint said. They were dealing with a minute-to-minute situation.
“That’s part of the reason we intervened right away. We recognized the severity of the situation,” he said, giving credit to the pool’s lifeguards, who followed procedure and aided in the life saving ordeal.
Sunday’s rescue wasn’t the first time Klint stepped into a paramedic role while off-duty – but he said that’s just part of the job.
“You’re never really off-duty. You take a career like this [and] if something happens and you’re able to help, I think any [BC Emergency Health Services] BCEHS paramedic would help,” he said. “I think anyone with the training would have done the same thing.”
While Klint emphasized the role of emergency medical dispatchers – who regularly provide life-saving instructions over the phone – he hopes more people will learn life-saving skills like CPR.
READ MORE: Dozens of drownings last year throughout B.C.
“I really hope that, if something’s taken away from all of this, people learn CPR so they know what to do in this type of situation,” he said. “The more people that know CPR at the scene, the better the outcomes are.”
“We recommend that people take a CPR class, take a first aid class and get better training. Chances are, the people they actually use these skills on are loved ones or family members or close friends.”
For those with CPR or first-aid certification, Klint recommended downloading the BCEHS application PulsePoint which provides alerts for nearby victims of cardiac arrest.
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