Portage la Prairie man saves child from drowning

Preston Houle was just about to leave the beach with his fiancée and their three young children when he heard the screams of a woman who he knew needed help.

The 29-year-old heavy duty diesel mechanic from Portage la Prairie, who was on the shore of Delta Beach on Lake Manitoba in the early evening of July 18, rushed into action with seconds to spare.

His quick thinking that day — and his first-aid training — helped save a two-year-old boy’s life, RCMP said Friday.

“I was walking out to go grab my kids to head back in and I heard a lady in distress, calling for help,” Houle said on Saturday.

Houle ran roughly 15 metres toward the shocked mother, who was standing in the lake water, holding her unconscious child.

“I hustled over, she even ran toward me,” said Houle.

The boy had been playing in Lake Manitoba with other children when he suddenly went under the water and did not resurface on his own, RCMP said.

Houle told the mother he had first-aid certification and took the boy from her arms as they ran toward the shore.

“She was in such a panic,” said Houle.

“It was fast, a very fast situation. I grabbed him and I said, ‘We got to get him back to the shoreline, it’s too deep out here.’”

The boy wasn’t breathing, but upon reaching the shore, Houle got the child on the ground and began giving him cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or chest compressions, to try to revive him.

“He had no pulse, too,” said Houle. “Within a few minutes or so, I got him to cough up some water and everything and leaned him onto his side, and we yelled for nearby bystanders to bring some towels, because that’s when you start to go into shock.”

Houle’s fiancée called 911 as he was performing first aid on the child.

Paramedics treated the boy and later took him to hospital in stable condition. The child was expected to make a complete recovery, RCMP said on Friday.

The mother was in shock, said Houle, but thanked him repeatedly.

Officers arrived to the beach, which is about 25 kilometres north of Portage la Prairie, at about 6:15 p.m., and found the boy being treated.

Houle said one of the officers shook his hand.

“She said, ‘This doesn’t happen too often,’ saving a child’s life. Usually, the situation is always bad news,” said Houle.

“She wanted to really thank me for everything I did.”

Houle had never had to use his CPR training before.

He initially took the training at 18, when he was thinking of going into policing as a career, and kept his certification up to date when he began to have children.

RCMP weren’t available for an interview on Saturday, but in a statement Friday, a Portage la Prairie detachment commander commended Houle’s quick thinking.

“If it wasn’t for the actions of this man at the beach, the outcome would likely not have been the same,” said Staff Sgt. Darcy Turko in the statement.

“We would like to commend and thank this bystander for his quick thinking, his actions helped save a life.”

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca