Order of Excellence for Alberta woman who turned tragedy into life-saving advocacy Achi-News

Kim Ruether lifted her son’s eyelid and saw his still, dilated pupil staring at the ceiling as he lay on a stretcher in the hallway of a northwestern Alberta hospital a decade ago.

She says she didn’t need a doctor to tell her the boy was dead.

“I looked at his little face and thought, ‘How could this big, beautiful 16-year-old boy be in this situation?'” she said.

“Then the doctor came over and said, ‘I’m sorry, but we’re not going to be able to save your son’ … I remember pinching my stomach so hard, thinking I need to wake up.”

Ruether’s son, Brock, stopped breathing and collapsed that day while playing volleyball in his high school gym. An autopsy found it was due to cardiac arrest.

He later discovered that the device that could have saved his life was not being used at his side during his final moments.

Ruether heard the recording of the five-minute call made by his peers to 911 and learned that an automated external defibrillator, or AED, was hanging steps away, next to the gymnasium doors.

But he said it would have been helpful if the dispatcher had told Brock’s peers how to use it while waiting for paramedics to arrive.

“(The dispatcher) said, ‘Go get it in case we need it later,'” Ruether said.

“So they got it and they put it right next to it on the floor and then never used it.”

Reuther has since become a staunch advocate for dispatchers around the world to learn how to walk callers through how to use defibrillators within seconds of someone going into cardiac arrest.

She will be recognized for her work at a ceremony in Edmonton in October, when she will receive the Alberta Order of Excellence from Lt. Gov. Salma Lakhani.

Lakhani says the Alberta Order of Excellence celebrates people who “have contributed so much to the common good.”

“Although this year’s recipients have made stellar contributions to many different fields, what they share is a dedication and commitment to service and leadership. May they inspire us all to build compassionate and thoughtful communities,” he said.

Emergency dispatchers in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and parts of Asia are now teaching people how to use AEDs.

Ruether also goes to schools across Canada teaching students how to use them.

“I pretend I’m in cardiac arrest, I’ll flip down on the floor, I’ll say, ‘OK, I’m timing you,’ and the kids have to run wherever the AED, come back running as soon as they can, put two pieces on my chest and get ready to shock me,” he said.

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She says she teaches children that a shock can revive a heartbeat, and the defibrillator will not work if the patient’s heartbeat is normal and they have collapsed for other reasons.

Ruether says she was told her work saved the life of a boy who collapsed while playing basketball in British Columbia.

“The call taker called me to let me know that she immediately recognized the similarities between that call and Brock’s call,” Ruether said.

“It was really lovely to know that there is a boy walking around now because of the education that Brock provided.”

Ruether grew up in a town north of Fairview, and currently also works as a senior X-ray technologist and operates a farm with her husband.

She has three other children.

She says she is still in disbelief and “it’s crazy” that she is getting the Order of Excellence.

She says her work with emergency dispatchers across Canada and the world has taught her how difficult their jobs are and that they need to be celebrated as well.

“Life is chaos. You have bumps and bruises along the way and, despite that, they are amazing people who are trying really hard to do good things and make positive changes.”

& copy 2024 The Canadian Press