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Life-saver awarded
Inuvik man pulls drowning woman from water

Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Thursday, December 1, 2016

INUVIK
It was natural instinct to him but Paul MacDonald has been awarded an Operational Merit Medal from the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary for saving a woman's life in July this year.

NNSL photo/graphic

Lee Williams, deputy unit leader for the Inuvik Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary, presents the Operational Merit Medal to Paul MacDonald for his work in rescuing a woman from the water last summer. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photo

"If Paul hadn't have been there, there's no way this person would have survived," said Lee Williams, deputy unit leader for the Inuvik CCGA, while presenting MacDonald with the award. "She would have drowned."

MacDonald, unit leader for the Inuvik coast guard auxiliary, had been off-duty at the time driving down to Airport Lake to launch his boat and get some things from his cabin.

When he arrived at the lake, he noticed two women in a boat swinging their arms and looking for help.

He launched his boat and retrieved the pair, finding out their motor had broken down and they didn't have a paddle.

He towed them back to shore and the two asked for a ride to town. He said he would but had to stop in his cabin first and be back in 15 minutes.

When MacDonald came back to Airport Lake shortly thereafter, he noticed a different boat floating away from the dock, about 130 feet away from shore. 

"I thought that's odd, and then I realized there was someone drowning behind it in the water," he said.

"She was going under, trying to keep her head above water."

He drove his boat out and pulled her up from the water as she was bobbing up and down, nearly going under.

"She was moments from going under completely," said MacDonald. "It was pretty close."

MacDonald took her back to shore and treated her for mild to moderate hypothermia, then contacted the RCMP and ambulance through text messaging, as regular cell service was spotty.

The story that he heard from the woman he saved was that the pair had tried to take that boat, which wasn't theirs, to town because MacDonald was taking too long getting stuff from his cabin.

When they realized there were no keys in the boat, it had already began to float away, with one girl on the dock and one on the boat. The one on the boat tried to swim to shore, but the water was extremely cold and she had become helpless.

The woman's friend had run away from the scene, eventually emerging from the bush after MacDonald had searched for her for 10 minutes.

"I spent 10 minutes or so looking for this girl who I thought perhaps had drowned, because time was of the essence, but she had just ran away," said MacDonald. "She didn't want to watch her friend drown."

Asked if he got a word of appreciation from the woman he saved, MacDonald said there was no acknowledgment.

Either way, rescuing her was part of his natural instinct.

"Every member, on duty or off duty, would respond to any call," he said. "If you see something, you're going to help. You'll never turn a blind eye."

He said he just did what anybody else would have done in the same situation. 

"I think human nature is to help your fellow humans," said MacDonald. "If you see someone in distress, everyone is out there to help. You'd never walk by someone who needs help, especially in a situation where it's life or death."

But it was nice to get acknowledged by his peers with the award, he said.

As a last word, MacDonald emphasized the importance of life jackets.

"If you go hunting, you take a gun," he said. "If you go fishing, you take fishing gear. If you go boating, why not take a life jacket? It's what you need for that activity. If she had a lifejacket on this story would not have happened."

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