‘Good Samaritan’ nurse honoured posthumously

ARecord Staff

nurse killed on Highway 10 while coming to the aid of motorists in 2015 has been posthumously awarded the Quebec government's civic medal Le prix Hommage au civisme. On March 8, 2015, at around 6:30 pm, Carole Rhéaume was driving alone in her car on Highway 10 heading west. She had just brought her daughter to the University of Sherbrooke and was heading home to Varennes when a driver ahead of her rolled over into a ditch near Eastman and ended up right side up in the center of the highway.

As a nurse by profession, Rhéaume parked on the right side of the road and crossed the two lanes of highway to get to the damaged vehicle to see how the occupants were doing.

Noting that they were doing relatively well, she went to return to her car but was struck by a driver who had lost control of his vehicle. She died instantly.

A pavilion at the OVO Fertility Clinic in Montreal, where Rhéaume was head nurse, now bears her name. The official naming ceremony, in the presence of the family and representatives of the establishment, took place exactly one year after the accident.

The Good Citizenship medal is awarded to a person who has performed an act of good citizenship under perilous circumstances. Made of bronze, it is engraved with the name of the recipient. It features two faces that symbolize the two components of the theme "Risking one's life to save another". In all, 11 medals of good citizenship and 12 honorable mentions were awarded in 2017 during a ceremony on November 7.