B.C. man honoured for saving friend's life using CPR

Alaster Osborne was honoured at his Squamish, B.C., woodshop Monday with an award for helping to save his friend and business partner's life using CPR.

The Squamish Finishing Solutions co-owner was presented with a Vital Link Award, which B.C. Emergency Health Services uses to recognize "significant contributions" made by everyday citizens during medical emergencies.

In December 2019, Osborne was booking a flight to England for the holidays when his business partner, Marc Dandurand, suddenly suffered an electric shock.

Durand had been crafting wooden Christmas gifts using a new and risky wood-burning technique involving parts from an old microwave.

"As soon as I touched it with both hands, I connected the circuit. It sent me flying back 10 feet," he said. "And this is where Al found me."

Osborne came running down and immediately performed CPR while waiting for ambulance to show up.

"He realized his phone was upstairs so he had to stop, prop the door open, scream for help, but nobody was around. (So he) ran upstairs, got his cellphone and then called 911," Dandurand said.

"I was obviously scared. I feel like my natural instincts kicked in," Osborne said.

BJ Chute, unit chief of the Squamish ambulance station, said Osborne's actions could well have saved his business partner's life.

"He performed heroic measures on a friend, and that's not easy," he said. "Without Alaster's quick-thinking, heroic efforts ... I think we would be having a very different service here."

The link provided by bystanders providing CPR until paramedics arrive is "critical in the chances of that person surviving," he added.

While first responders did resuscitate Dandurand, he still spent a week in a coma in hospital.

His family didn’t know if he would pull through and even considered taking him off life support, but he miraculously woke up and was discharged before the end of December.

Dandurand says he now looks at life through a different lens.

"Just enjoy every minute that you have, every day. Don't take anything for granted. I know it sounds all cheesy, but it's true," he said.

As for Osborne, he takes his award graciously and humbly.

"I'm not a hero. I would do this again in any situation that is required. I feel like it's our obligation as people in society to support other people and help other people," he said.

He and Dandurand spent the next several weeks after the incident making a wooden table which they plan to auction off and donate the money to a charity on behalf of the first responders.

"To me, it's a small way of giving back using our skills that we work with everyday," said Osborne.