When Siera Edstrand saw her baby brother Gunnar face down and unresponsive in her family’s backyard swimming pool in North Vancouver, British Columbia, she knew what to do and acted.
The teenager pulled Gunnar out of the water and immediately started cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), something she had learned at school.
“I thought he was going to die because he wasn’t waking up,” Siera said of the June 2021 incident.
She yelled at her mother, Yesica Edstrand, who was inside their home, to call 911.
Edstrand then took over his daughter’s CPR and by the time paramedics arrived Gunnar was alert and crying after vomiting pool water and breathing on his own.
“As soon as he woke up, it was, I can’t even explain, I was so happy, because he’s my little brother,” Siera, now 15, said after she and her mother received an award from British Columbia Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) on Saturday for her lifesaving actions.
“I remember yelling at him, ‘you’re not going anywhere, not like this, I’m not ready to let you go,'” Edstrand said of recalling working to resurrect Gunnar, who the family calls DJ and who is now four years old.
“And I’m just watching it now and I’m grateful.”
Siera and Yesica Edstrand were presented with the Vital Link award at a ceremony at North Vancouver’s Lions Gate Hospital by Laurence Darlington, the paramedic who attended the incident.
The award, which is given to citizens who save a life using CPR, is “a great opportunity to educate the public about the positive impact CPR and first aid can have on patient outcomes,” said the BCEHS.
“Every member of the family should know how”
Edstrand said she was grateful for the BCEHS recognition and wanted other families to know the importance of learning life skills.
“That night, Siera was the one who had to do it on DJ, so you never know. No matter the age, every member of the family should know how to do CPR,” she said.
Since 2005, the BCEHS has worked with the ACT Foundation teach CPR in high schools across the province.
The Canadian Red Cross lists where CPR and first aid courses are offered across Canada. The lifesaving society in British Columbia also offers CPR and emergency first aid courses.
“Travel aficionado. Twitter scholar. Writer. Extreme coffee guru. Evil pop culture fanatic.”