Paramedics are often lauded for their lifesaving work, but on Wednesday it was the BC Ambulance Service (BCAS) honouring two local members of the public.
Prince George paramedics presented best friends Christine McComber and Angela Pigeon with a BCAS Good Samaritan Award for coming to the aid of a family in distress on a rural stretch of Highway 16 about 40 kilometres east of the city.
It was Remembrance Day, it was snowing, and a mother and her two teenaged children were on their way to Alberta. The driver lost control and slid over a 30-foot embankment, the vehicle rolling as it went down.
Following not far behind, and by coincidence also headed for Alberta, were McComber and Pigeon.
"They were hauling a trailer with three horses, but they got stopped and the two women crawled down the embankment," said BCAS spokeswoman Lisa Grewar. "They saw that the family was cold, in shock, not getting out of their vehicle, there was some injury to one of the victims, so these women went back up to their horse trailer and got some clean horse blankets to keep them warm. Then, when the paramedics arrived, they helped carry equipment down and helped bring the patients back up to the highway."
Only 50 people in B.C. received either the CPR Award or the Good Samaritan Award from the BCAS in the past year. Each received a plaque and letter of appreciation.
"Our paramedics attended hundreds and hundreds of incidents, but it is the special few who are nominated for extraordinary and heroic efforts," Grewar said. "These two women showed their humanitarian instinct."
