Teacher displays heroics on river
Teacher Tyler Rittinger was jogging along the riverbank with his class when some of them noticed a woman stuck out in the rapidly-flowing current.
What he did next has earned Rittinger the praise of Saskatoon’s fire chief, who presented Rittinger with an award of merit during a recent Buena Vista Elementary School assembly.
“I didn’t really want the recognition, but it’s good if we can use this to teach kids about river safety,” Rittinger said.
Rittinger, who teaches the Eco Quest outdoor education program, told the students to run ahead and find the other teacher. Rittinger ran down to the water’s edge behind the Delta Bessborough Hotel.
“I could see a head bobbing up and down,” Rittinger said of the May 2 incident.
Rittinger yelled at the woman, imploring her to swim back to shore. He considered jumping in, but saw that she was making progress. A panicked swimmer can act erratically or even violently, so he decided to let her continue.
Several minutes passed. When the woman got to within several metres of the bank, Rittinger waded in and pulled her on to dry land. The 27-year-old woman was wearing only a shirt and underwear.
“She was blue, probably hypothermic, and wasn’t making any sense,” he said.
While Rittinger waited for paramedics and firefighters to arrive, he convinced a nearby senior on a bench to lend him his fleece coat. Rittinger wrapped it around the woman to warm her up and prevent her from going in to shock.
Emergency workers arrived and transported the woman to hospital for observation while Rittinger gave officials as much information as he could.
Rittinger relied on his wilderness first aid training, but hopes everyone would use common sense when they see someone in danger.
“Assess what you can do and then go help without creating a more dangerous situation,” he said.
That’s exactly the message firefighters would like people to remember, said assistant fire chief Morgan Hackl.
“It was just a great example of someone who shows strong character,” said Hackl, who attended the ceremony at Buena Vista with fire Chief Dan Paulsen.
“He just did a fabulous job of things. He deserves credit for this.”