Thursday evening saw an awards night for those who have engaged in water rescues and saved people's lives in Manitoba. Four people in our region received awards.

Water Smart and safety management coordinator for Lifesaving Society Manitoba Dr Christopher Love gives an outline.

"We are doing the Lifesaving Society Manitoba's Annual honour and Rescue awards ceremony at Government House this evening," says Dr. Love. "Two of the rescues did occur in the Portage la Prairie General Area. One of them was Delta Beach on Lake Manitoba."

He says, on June of 2020, a hot windy day saw Renata Bandel at the beach with family.

"She decided at one point she was going to go swimming with her niece," continues Love. "And as they were walking through the shallow water, a couple approached from who was heading back to shore. And they mentioned that they thought they had heard someone calling for help. And at that point Renata reacted. She looked around, really, really started listening, and sent her niece back to shore for help."

Love says Bandel there was somebody in trouble.

"There was a teenage girl who was out in the water and, obviously, distressed," adds Love. "Renata swam out to her, got her to calm down a little bit, and had her get on her back so that they could swim back to shore. They were met by police and paramedics but the girl had told Renata on their way back in that there were more people out there. The girl had been out on a floating mat with a bunch of her friends. Going back out, Renata found a second girl in the water and started swimming with her back to shore."

He notes that at the halfway point back to shore, RCMP arrived and loaded them into their boat.

Renata Bandel"And then the search continued, and the third girl was found on a floating object, about 15 minutes later," adds Love. "But we are recognizing Renata with a Rescue Commendation this evening, because, without her initiative, it could have been a very, very tragic circumstance for the three young women."

St. Ambroise Beach also saw a water rescue by some heroic residents.

"We had a second incident that occurred again in 2020 and this was at the end of June -- June 28th. On another warm day, one of the Conservation Officers in the park there at St. Ambrose was patrolling. And officer Ian Van Nest was approached by a woman who said she and her friends had been out, again, on an inflatable raft in Lake Manitoba and that had been pushed offshore by a strong wind."

He says she and one of her friends had been brought back to shore by a passing boat, but there were still six others out on the lake on the raft at that point in time.

"So, Ian and another fellow conservation officer, Rory McLellan, and a provincial park staff employee, Braden van Aert, launched a rescue boat. It was a boat they had available to them at the park, and they began searching for that inflatable raft because it was no longer visible from shore. RCMP had also been alerted and they launched a second rescue boat.
Eventually, the three parks employees located the raft about 1.5 kilometres from shore. At that point, it was taking on water and potentially in danger of sinking."

Dr. Love notes, because of Ian, Rory and Brian's efforts, the day ended safely for all of the individuals involved and could have been a tragic circumstance, otherwise.

He explains there are two different awards that are presented at the ceremony.

"We have Rescue Commendations and they're presented to anyone who does not have Lifesaving Society training when it comes to water rescue," says Love. "The vast majority of awards we will give out this evening are Rescue Commendations to individuals in many cases who had no rescue training whatsoever, but they took it upon themselves to intervene and help save a life. And then, for those who have taken Lifesaving Society courses in the past, they may be currently certified or previously certified. But they've received the training they can receive what is called an MG Griffiths award, and the distinction, of course, being the training versus not having training."

He adds these people have taken time to use the skills they've learned to help save a life.

"We always want to recognize individuals who have put themselves out there as humanitarians to assist others in distress," adds Love. "The motto of our organization is 'Whomsoever you see in distress, recognizing them a fellow human being,' and the rescuers that we honour exemplify that model. But at the same time, we use this event to raise awareness to get people thinking about how quickly things can turn dangerous and how having people at the right place at the right time can make a huge difference in people's lives."

Love says it's really important that people do step up and are prepared to lend assistance when possible by thinking ahead by planning ahead, and hopefully, avoiding those circumstances in the first place.