Without a second thought, a Winnipeg woman jumped into the Red River to save a young child and her father after seeing them struggling in the water.<\/p>\n
Jayclyn Morrissette was walking with her neighbour on Aug. 24 when a road closure changed their route, bringing them to St. John\u2019s Park \u2014 a detour she believes was meant to happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like I was meant to be there that day,\u201d Morrissette said.<\/p>\n
The pair stopped for a break when Morrissette noticed a young girl in the river.<\/p>\n
“I saw the little girl in the water,” she recalled. “And I saw her flailing.”<\/p>\n
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Morrissette’s neighbour alerted the child’s parents, who were nearby. As Morrissette made her way toward the river, the girl’s father jumped in after her.<\/p>\n
Morrissette said the drop into the water was much deeper than it appeared from shore.<\/p>\n
Morrissette jumps into the river<\/p>\n
She waited about 10 seconds for the father to resurface. When he did not, she emptied her pockets and jumped into the river.<\/p>\n
“I was not going to live with my conscience of watching two people, an adult and a child, die that day and I couldn’t do it,” she said.<\/p>\n
Immediately the rescue became a challenge.<\/p>\n
“He pulled me under as I was trying to pull him up,” she said.<\/p>\n
She eventually managed to get the man to the concrete edge, where her neighbour and a family member helped pull him to safety.<\/p>\n
“Once I knew he was secure, I had turned around, and I started swimming to the little baby,” she said.<\/p>\n
She estimated the girl was between 30 and 50 feet away.<\/p>\n
The child was face down in the water and no longer moving, Morrissette said.<\/p>\n
She swam as fast as she could towards the girl, turned her onto her back, then placed the child on her chest and began trying to revive her.<\/p>\n
During the rescue, something caught on Morrissette’s pants, causing her to lose them in the water.<\/p>\n
She said she made a split-second decision not to stop.<\/p>\n
“I just chose to go and not waste any time,” she said.<\/p>\n
Morrissette performs CPR<\/p>\n
Once Morrissette reached shore with the child, she realized no one was performing CPR.<\/p>\n
She said the parents did not know how, so she immediately began chest compressions.<\/p>\n
Morrissette continued CPR for about five minutes before her arms became too tired to continue. Her neighbour then took over until police and emergency responders arrived.<\/p>\n
The child was taken to hospital.<\/p>\n
Despite the intensity of the rescue, Morrissette said she remained focused on what needed to be done.<\/p>\n
“I knew panicking wouldn’t be any good,” she said.<\/p>\n
Morrissette had CPR training about 13 years ago but does not have lifeguard training. She credits her experience as a strong swimmer with helping her respond.<\/p>\n
‘All I thought about was my little girl’<\/p>\n
Morrissette said becoming a mother changed the way she reacted when she saw the child in the river.<\/p>\n
“Being a mom is what changed me and made me do what I did,” Morrissette said.<\/p>\n
“If I was not a mom, I wouldn’t have done what I did.”<\/p>\n
She said all she could think about was her own daughter.<\/p>\n
“All I thought about was, when I saw that little girl, all I thought about was my little girl,” she said. “And all I could see was my daughter in that river, and I couldn’t handle that.”<\/p>\n
“Without a second thought, I did what I did, and I honestly would do it again.”<\/p>\n
Morrissette described her response as instinctive.<\/p>\n
“I was just doing it,” she said. “It was like an instinct, and it kicked in.”<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Morrissette urges caution around river<\/p>\n
Winnipeg police have praised Morrissette’s courage and credited her with helping save the lives of the father and child.<\/p>\n
Still, Morrissette said she is uncomfortable being called a hero.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m a hero,\u201d she said. \u201cI always wanted to believe there\u2019s good in this world, and what I think I did was what someone else would do naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also recognizes how dangerous the decision was.<\/p>\n
“I’m lucky I got them out,” she said. “And I’m lucky I didn’t go under. It could have gone wrong, but it didn’t.”<\/p>\n
Remaining calm in crisis<\/p>\n
Morrissette is now encouraging others to learn how to swim and remain calm during emergencies.<\/p>\n
“Be careful. Get some swimming lessons. Learn to love the water, but be safe,” she said.<\/p>\n
She says everyone should have basic swimming skills, particularly in a province surrounded by lakes and rivers.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanada has lots of water bodies; everybody should know how to swim.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also believes more safety measures are needed along the river.<\/p>\n
Morrissette said she noticed there was no warning signage at the location and remembered a sign that previously warned of a steep drop and danger.<\/p>\n
“There should be a fence,” she said, calling for additional safety measures around the river.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Morrissette said people need to understand their own limits when responding to an emergency.<\/p>\n
“Help if you can,” she said. “And always remain calm. That’s the most important factor.”<\/p>\n
If someone cannot safely intervene, Morrissette said calling 911 and helping keep others calm can still make a difference.<\/p>\n
A message of kindness<\/p>\n
Looking back, Morrissette said the response from people across Winnipeg has been a meaningful part of the experience.<\/p>\n
“It is really positive, and I love to see that,” she said.<\/p>\n
But Morrissette said the message she wants people to take away goes beyond water safety.<\/p>\n
She is encouraging people to show kindness and compassion toward one another.<\/p>\n
“To be kind to one another,” she said. “We have too many evil things going on in the world, and everyone needs to have kindness and love and acceptance in their hearts and no longer hate for anybody.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Without a second thought, a Winnipeg woman jumped into the Red River to save a young child and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-195245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}