Jody Rausch remembers feeling scared, and even unsure whether her actions at an Osoyoos gym last spring would help make a difference in saving a man who had just suffered a cardiac arrest.
On May 16, 2025, the retired RCMP officer was working out at a local facility when she saw Thomas Gee, 85, collapse. Rausch, trained in CPR, was quick to help.
She performed CPR until paramedics arrived, communicating with a 911 dispatcher while working on an unresponsive Gee.
"I knew right away to start CPR, and with the dispatcher's help, she was walking me through it," Rausch recounted. "I didn't think he was going to make it, but he did."
Gee has since made a full recovery after paramedics continued to perform CPR, using an automated external defibrillator to get circulation and a pulse restored. He was also transported to hospital, about a dozen people heard during a ceremony on Aug. 28 to recognize Rausch's life-saving actions.
As part of the event, which Gee attended, Rausch was presented with a commendation letter from BC Ambulance outside the provincial group's Osoyoos station.
"Jody gave Thomas a chance at survival by acting quickly and courageously," said Todd Kunz, unit chief at Osoyoos' ambulance station, joined by the same paramedics who responded to the gym last May. "As paramedics and dispatchers, we rarely get a chance to reunite with our patients, so it's definitely an honour (to be here)."
Rausch, who also received a BC Ambulance challenge coin, stressed the importance of learning CPR.
"It's just so easy," she said, adding that it was extra special accepting the award with Gee in attendance. "You don't think you're going to make a difference, but obviously it did."
Samantha Murphy, Osoyoos community paramedic, echoed those words.
"As soon as you start CPR, the act of pressing on the chest pumps blood and gets it to the brain," Murphy said. "Providing that in an emergency situation is going to give your brain oxygen, sugar, and nutrients it needs to stay alive until (paramedics) can either restart the heart or get them to a hospital."
In the case of Rausch's life-saving actions on Gee, "everything was done right," she added.
"CPR was started very quickly, and it was done appropriately with the right depth and rate," Murphy said. "It's very easy to learn, and when you call 911, they will walk you through the steps."
Gee, with his grandson by his side, expressed gratitude toward Rausch on Thursday and said he hopes to make it his return to the gym soon.
