A prestigious honour for a woman who patrols the harbour bridges in Halifax after an intense night on the job in February.
Payton Deeble received a national award last month from the Canadian Security Lifesaver Association for helping save a man’s life when he had a heart attack on the Macdonald Bridge.
She tells our newsroom she was very, very surprised by the recognition.
“I got called in by my supervisor and I see my district manager there and [they] invited me upstairs. Then my account manager was there and a couple other people from HHB [Halifax Harbour Bridges] and they presented me the award,” says Deeble.
Photo: Halifax Harbour Bridges
She commissions through the security company GardaWorld, making it the first time a nominee from the company was selected and is one of only four to receive the award this quarter.
The plaque reads:
“In Recognition of Unwavering Heroism for committing true acts of Kindness, Selflessness, and Bravery, resulting in the greatest achievement of all, Saving a Human Life.”
What happened
It was around 9:30 p.m. when Deeble got a call about a stalled vehicle on the bridge, while she was patrolling.
She says, she was in the opposite direction, so she did a U-turn and got behind the vehicle.
“Typically, when I go up and approach drivers, they’ll always look at me or something like that. When I approached this driver all I could see was that he was slumped back in his car with his eyes wide open,” says Deeble.
That’s when she knocked on the window, and when she received no response, realized the man was unconscious and sprang into action.
“My first thought was that I need to get into his vehicle right away. So, I started banging on the window [and] trying the doors,” adds Deeble.
That’s when she says, luckily enough, another driver asked if she needed help.
“So, he got a tire iron out of his backseat, and we smashed out the back window in [the man’s] vehicle, unlocked the door, got to his driver’s side door, unlocked the door there and we noticed that [the victim] had no pulse,” continues Deeble.
Then, she says, they put the man on the bridge deck, and another passerby – believed to be his wife- started compressions.
Going through the motions
Deeble says after they started compressions, things got intense.
She got out her AED (Automated External Defibrillator) from her car and started “going through the motions”.
“I was able to cut off his shirt and I placed AED paddles on his chest and just started going through the process.”
The machine would tell them to keep the compressions and beep and warn when a shock was coming.
“[The] first shock, we didn’t get a pulse. Then when it went through the second shock, we didn’t get a pulse as well. By the third shock, we were able to get a weak pulse,” says Deeble.
That’s when EHS arrived on scene and took over.
Pretty cool feeling
Deeble says she is very appreciative for all the support and congratulations she’s received.
“It feels pretty cool to be acknowledged for something. Even still, now, I’m like…I didn’t expect it. I just always say at the end of the day, I was doing my job, and I never expected anything to happen,” says Deeble.
