Ty Hurley is being awarded for saving a man from drowning in December.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Kelowna Rockets/Steve Dusnmoore
March 07, 2024 - 4:37 PM
Kelowna Rocket Ty Hurley is getting an award for saving a man’s life at a hotel in December.
Hurley is receiving the Silver Medal of Merit and the M.G. Griffiths Award at the 112th Annual Commonwealth Awards for Honour & Rescue this weekend, according to a press release from the team issued today, March 7.
Hurley was waiting for his teammates in a hotel lobby in Strathmore Alta. on Dec. 7, 2023, when he noticed a man in the hotel’s pool. The man was fully dressed and bobbing in the water, submerging for longer and longer, sliding beneath the surface of the water. Eventually the man didn’t resurface.
“At this point, I decided I’ve got to do something here. This isn’t right,” Hurley said in a December interview with whl.ca. “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 or 40 seconds. I got him out of there, flipped him on his back and he wasn’t breathing at all. It was pretty scary.”
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The 19-year-old forward had learned life-saving skills and CPR during a Bronze Medallion course, but this was the first time he had to use them.
Hurley dragged the man out of the pool and began chest compressions and after 15 to 20 compressions the man started to breathe.
After the chest compressions his teammate Ethan Neutens arrived to help and comfort the man.
“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.”
Alberta Health Services arrived and took the man to hospital 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.”
The Rockets are playing in Kamloops during the award ceremony so Hurley will not be accepting the award in person.
The 112th Annual Commonwealth Awards for Honour & Rescue is put on by the Lifesaving Society of BC & Yukon, and acknowledges individuals who “demonstrated outstanding courage in aiding those in distress during a water-related emergency.”
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