By Jaime Polmateer
Clearwater paramedic Brielle Penner recently gave out a Good Samaritan award to a citizen who went above and beyond expectations while helping her at an emergency scene last year.
As it turned out the woman, Nicole Roberts, was in the midst of an emergency of her own when she pulled up to the wreck and helped the responders on scene.
“It was a semi-truck rollover, there were three seriously injured patients and one of the bystanders (Roberts) who drove up on scene was actually from Williams Lake after just getting evacuated,” said Penner.
“I pretty much made this bystander my partner, we worked together with the patient and kept them stable until we managed to get them to the hospital; I nominated her for a Good Samaritan award and B.C. Ambulance accepted it so we presented it in Williams Lake (last week).”
Penner added it was remarkable how Roberts was already going through a great deal of chaos and stress from the evacuation with her horses, pets and truck stuck on scene for more than two hours and kept the presence off mind to help paramedics through the emergency at hand.
Getting to award her for her selflessness hopefully brought a degree of closer, not just from being evacuated, but from the stress of the emergency as well, she said.
The two were already acquaintances, with Penner originally from Williams Lake herself having moved to Clearwater for work, but after dealing with last year’s situation the two have formed a bond and now keep in touch.
“We saw each other here and there, but we never really knew each other and now we’ve become friends and we talk quite often, so it’s really nice, we’ve gained a nice friendship out of it.”