(Left to right) Jonny Rockall, Fiona Morgenthaler-Code and Al Winther (photo by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

By Liam Verster

Vital Link Award

Vernon man honoured for quick life-saving actions

Dec 2, 2022 | 5:18 PM

A Vernon man has been given an award for his work to save the life of a man in cardiac arrest.

Jonny Rockall was working as a City of Vernon employee at Kal Tire Place when Allan (Al) Winther, who was at the rink to play some recreational hockey, collapsed on the bench.

Rockall, who is also a volunteer firefighter, jumped into action, taking over doing CPR from Winther’s teammates and administering an automated external defibrillator (AED).

First responders arrived on the scene and transported Winther to hospital for further treatment, including surgery to install an internal defibrillator.

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In honour of his quick actions, Rockall was presented with the Vital Link Award from the B.C. Emergency Health Service at a ceremony at Kal Tire Place Friday, Dec. 2.

Speaking with Vernon Matters, Rockall said the award is great, but not the accolades he needs.

“Obviously it’s an honour. I am just thankful that I had the outcome that I had,” Rockall said following the award presentation.

“To have everybody recognize and come here is beyond any expectations I have ever had about this. I’m just thankful to be friends with Al and to make the impacts on his life, on his family. That itself is enough of an honour and I don’t need this [award], but it’s really nice”

Reflecting on the incident and his quick reactions, Rockall said he simply followed his gut and training.

“Obviously the adrenaline was flowing. I don’t feel like a hero, it’s just something that I thought needed to be done,” Rockall told Vernon Matters.

“The team was yelling at me ‘He needs a break, do this, do that!’ and then I had to really focus and it was a difficult situation, but thankfully having the confidence of the training that I’ve had to just know that what I was doing was the right thing and stay on track with what I was doing and the AED prompted me the whole way through two shocks, and it just couldn’t have worked out better.”

He added things fell into place at the time with the AED being brought to him and paramedics and firefighters arriving on the scene to take over soon after he started, adding “it’s really the best outcome I could have asked for.”

Winther told Vernon Matters he was unconscious in hospital for three days following the cardiac arrest episode, and it was a few days after he woke up that he learned what happened.

“When I got my faculties back [post-op], and I became aware of what had happened with Jonny, actually with a couple of my teammates initially providing CPR and then Jonny using the AED to revive me and when I learned that I wanted to come down and thank Jonny personally,” said Winther.

Fiona Morgenthaler-Code, the advance life support paramedic who responded to the 911 call at Kal Tire Place on February 21, 2020, stated the actions by Rockall were critical.

“Without those quick actions, Allan’s brain wouldn’t have survived, so that time is super important and legitimately is the vital link to his survival,” Morgenthaler-Code told Vernon Matters.

Since the incident, Rockall and Winther have become friends, telling Vernon Matters, they meet every week or so for lunch or to go for a walk together.

Rockall, Morgenthaler-Code and Winther all hope that this story inspires others to become trained in CPR and AED use.

“I was telling somebody earlier that I gave my daughter back-blows about five years ago and dislodged a hard candy as she couldn’t breath. Up to that point, I’d done quite a bit of first aid training and CPR training and I thought ‘wow, if it was all just for this, then that’s worth it.’ So I guess you just never know what situation you’re going to face. CPR training is obviously very important and AED training is important, it can save a life,” Rockall told Vernon Matters.

“I’ve done some CPR training myself, which is probably out of date now, I’ll get that updated, but I really encourage everyone to keep practicing it because the more you practice, obviously, the better chances are you’ll be able to be effective when you do use it,” said Winther.

“CPR keeps blood circulating and oxygen circulating, which is what gives people a chance for survival, and hopefully with that, then we come along or like here, where they had the AED, we can hook that up using electricity and then paramedics can follow up and start using drugs and more aggressive airway management, but without that beginning stuff, there would be no chance for us to do anything,” added Morgenthaler-Code.