Front: Jeff Moore, Scott Ross, David Hampton, Mitch Nystrom, Bob Outhwaite / Back: Paramedics Dan Sawyrucha, Zach Clarkson, Lauren Cave, Brittani Sagert, Scott Lequensne (Liam Verster / Vernon Matters Staff)

By Liam Verster

Vital Link Awards

‘Everybody played a role’: Awards given to men who saved friend’s life in Vernon

Jun 24, 2024 | 1:03 PM

Five men have been recognized for leaping into action and saving their friend’s life during a medical emergency in Vernon.

On January 24, 2023, David Hampton suffered cardiac arrest while playing drop-in hockey at Priest Valley Arena.

His teammates, recognizing he was in medical distress, lept into action by calling 911, administering CPR, and locating and using an automated external defibrillator (AED), to rouse him from unconsciousness before paramedics arrived on the scene.

Hampton lost consciousness again after answering some questions from paramedics, and was taken to Kelowna General Hospital where he received emergency coronary intervention.

On Monday, June 24, the men who took action to save Hampton’s life, Scott Ross, Bob Outhwaite, Jeff Moore and Mitch Nystrom, were presented with Vital Link Awards at a special ceremony in Vernon. Ron Burton, the other man who helped during the rescue, was not present for the presentation.

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“Vital Link Awards, they’re presented by B.C. Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) to honour the skillful actions of bystanders during a cardiac arrest emergency. These brave and quick thinking individuals speak with our emergency call takers, and for this area they talk to the Kamloops dispatch centre, and perform bystander CPR on a patient, and sometimes, as it was in this case, use an automated external defibrillator, and these folks and these actions represent what we call the ‘vital link’ to a patent’s survival, providing that care before the arrival of paramedics and other first responders,” Zach Clarkson, a critical care paramedic with BCEHS and one of the three members who responded to the call at the Vernon Recreation Complex ice rink, said during the ceremony.

“Seeing David standing here in front of us is an amazing example of why having a basic understanding and knowledge of how to perform CPR is so critically important. There’s over 60,000 Canadians who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrest every year, and when someone has cardiac arrest bystander CPR and the use of an AED can increase the chance of survival by up to 50 per cent,” Clarkson added.

Vital Link Awards were presented to five men at a ceremony in Vernon Monday, June 24 (photo by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

Speaking with Vernon Matters following the ceremony, the life-saving men explained their roles in resuscitating Hampton.

Burton called 911 and Nystrom took over coordinating first responders, while Ross and Outhwaite performed CPR.

“I’ve taken many, many certifications of CPR, I’ve actually had to use it a few times. Dave being here has upped my percentages considerably,” Outhwaite said.

“In all fairness, it was quite a team effort. Just like the game of hockey, everybody played a role, everybody seemed to do what they were supposed to do, and without the team, this wouldn’t have been near as successful.”

During the incident, Moore, who had made mental notes of where the AED was located, ran out to fetch the device, which was brought back to the rink and used by Ross.

“[I’ve had] lost of practice [with the AED], I’m a first medical responder up at SilverStar Mountain, I’m on the fire team, so I kind of knew, but I needed someone to read the pads because I knew where to put them but I couldn’t read which was right and which was left,” Ross told Vernon Matters.

“The only thing I was glad about was that it was really early in the skate so he hadn’t started sweating yet, because I was scared the pads maybe wouldn’t stick, and if it goes a bit off the skin you can actually get burns. So we made sure we got the pads on.”

Inspired by their actions, Nystrom organized a CPR class at the Vernon Recreation Complex last year, which saw roughly 25 people participate, adding the City of Vernon may run the training annually.

“Ultimately, I know how to do it and I know where the AED is, but if people don’t know how to do CPR and don’t know the AED is, it doesn’t help me,” Nystrom remarked.

“So I think it’s good for everybody to have [the training].”

The men noted they had to do CPR on the bench, which was precarious and required people to hold Hampton steady, and recommend that non-slip blankets be made available alongside the AED so a patient could be laid out on the ice during an emergency.

They also said there was no mask for administering breaths during CPR included in the kit, and suggested that be made available at the AED station as well.

Hampton, who is just shy of 71 years old, said he has fully recovered from the heart attack and is back to his active lifestyle of playing hockey and soccer, skiing and golfing, and hiking.

This wasn’t Hampton’s first heart attack. He also had one in February of 2022 while skiing on SilverStar Mountain, saying he was lucky he collapsed under a chair lift and ski patrol was able to quickly respond to the emergency. He said these medical emergencies can happen suddenly, and advised people not to treat fatigue as just being old or out of shape, and to stay up to date with medical appointments to check for heart disease.

The award recipients, patient, and BCEHS personnel all noted this incident could have turned out very poorly if it involved people who did not know how to perform CPR and respond to a medical emergency, and recommends people take steps to learn how to save a life.