Nurse led CPR as people stepped up to help after Regina crash

For one Regina woman, it isn’t out of the ordinary to help save lives, but Annette Vaxvick didn’t hesitate to step up following a crash at the corner of Gordon Road and Lewvan Drive earlier this week.

On Thursday, News Talk Radio shared the story of a Regina teacher who pulled a man from a vehicle following the crash at the intersection on Monday, then helped with CPR as a nurse did chest compressions.

Vaxvick was that nurse.

The registered nurse was with her husband, Kevin, as they were driving in the area. She noticed that a crash had happened and told Kevin to pull over.

“When I came up to the car there was a lady talking on the phone to 911 saying [the victim] didn’t have any apparent injuries. And I just asked does he have a pulse and nobody knew so I immediately checked for a pulse on his neck and he had no pulse so we pulled him out of the car and started CPR,” explained Vaxvick.

Vaxvick took control of the chest compressions while teacher Bryan Rice did the breaths.

Vaxvick said about five or six minutes went by before emergency crews arrived, although she describes it as feeling like “a really long time”. She said emergency crews were able to revive the 58-year-old man in medical distress.

The victim was taken to hospital in serious condition, but as of Tuesday afternoon, was upgraded to stable condition.

“I’m glad that I was there. I’m glad that I could help and I’m really happy for his family that they still have him and would I stop again, absolutely, every single time and offer my assistance,” Vaxvick told News Talk Radio.

Vaxvick recommends everyone get CPR and first-aid training.

“The more people that are trained, the better outcome everybody will have when something happens outside of a medical facility.”