The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Mines Inspector Jim Haines of Snow Lake and his son-in-law, Wayne Skwarchuk of Thompson, were suitably honoured for their bravery and heroic efforts at the prestigious St. John Lifesaving Awards ceremony held on October 9th in the seventh floor ballroom of Winnipeg's Hotel Fort Garry. In all there were 31 heroes Ð 14 of which were law enforcement officers Ð from all over Manitoba, who were honoured at the ceremony. Lt. Governor Peter Liba made the presentations, and Robert McNamara, the Chairperson of the Manitoba Council of The St. John Ambulance, gave an overview of the circumstances involved in each instance. Each recipient was coached before hand on what to expect, where to stand and so on, and all were piped in when stepping forward to accept their award. Presentations were made in order of the level of risk involved in each rescue, with certificates of commendation being presented first, and silver (Haines) and gold (Skwarchuk) life saving awards handed out later. "You are quite concerned about what is going to happen," said Haines. "But when you are 24 and 25 on the agenda, you have time to prepare." The incident that precipitated the awards took place back on September 23, 2000 and involved Robert Bancken of Thompson, Manitoba. Bancken, an experienced scuba diver, was in the process of making repairs to a submersed water pump, located some twenty feet from shore, in eight feet of water, at Snow Lake's Berry Bay subdivision. At a point during this process, it became evident that he was experiencing difficulty. Skwarchuk, who was an on-shore observer, summoned Haines before entering the water, locating the diver, and pulling him to shore. Haines performed artificial respiration and CPR until First Responders and an ambulance from Snow Lake arrived on the scene. See 'I' P.# Con't from P.# Bancken was then transported to the Snow Lake Hospital, before being stabilized by staff there and medi-evaced to Winnipeg. While recalling the day the accident took place, Haines said he had no idea of how much time had transpired during the incident or directly after it. He says that he just went into a zone and stayed focused on what he believed he had to do to save the man's life. "The man was blue Ð I mean he was dead," Haines said shaking his head. "But I wasn't going to give up, dead or alive, it was as simple as that." Haines stated that he could get Bancken breathing, but couldn't keep him breathing, so while his wife Lil phoned and waited for the ambulance, he, Skwarchuk, and neighbour, Randy Crone moved Bancken up the steep incline to where they would eventually meet the ambulance. He says that by the time the First Responders arrived, he was heavily fatigued and glad to see them. Haines confides that he and Skwarchuk have met with Bob Bancken since the accident. "Wayne and I and our wives went over for supper with he and his wife," he said. "It was a very emotional evening for all of us. I've seen him several times since and he's back to his old self, but I don't think he dives anymore." This Snow Lake hero says that he's had a lot of time to reflect on the seriousness of the incident and that several weeks back when the awards were being handed out, there were a lot of thoughts running through his mind. However, one that overwhelmed all others was the sense of pride he felt for the man who would step forward with him. "He's my son-in-law; you know I'm pretty proud of him," Haines smiled. "From the point of view of the people who did the assessments on this thing, they figured that there was a higher level of risk involved in what he did, and there was. I mean he dove in the water to get this guy and he doesn't even know how to swim. He did what he had to do. I didn't tell him to jump in, but when he looked and the bubbles weren't coming up anymore, he just kicked off his shoes and in he went." "Receiving the award was a moving occasion, and I was proud to walk up there with my son-in-law. I'm very proud of him," he added. This isn't the first time that Haines has saved the life of another person; he's actually done it three times. One of these instances was during the same year as the dive accident. It happened in a local restaurant when he saved a friend who was choking by using the Heimlich maneuver. "I didn't know anything about the technique; I'd seen it done on TV, that was about it," Haines stated. "But nobody else got up and this guy was turning blue and going down for the count, so I spun him around and applied the maneuver. After three tries, the obstruction in his throat dislodged and he was okay in a matter of minutes." Another happened back in the 1980s when several young Snow Lake fellows were fortunate that Haines was in the right place at the right time. "I watched a car come, very fast, around the corner by the (Brookside) cemetery," said Haines. "It rolled right in front of me. The car was smoking and one fellow was out and moving around, but his friend was upside down in the vehicle. When I checked, he wasn't breathing. I dragged him out of the wreck, began working on him and he came back pretty quick. They were both lucky; the car was a hell of a mess." Mr. Haines credits safety and first aid knowledge gained while employed (as a miner and shiftboss) at INCO in Thompson with allowing him to keep a cool head and do what needed to be done in all of these instances. "Dr. Blaine Johnson gave us our training back then and he was a stickler. If it's going to be right, it's got to be right," Haines winked. Although the facts state otherwise, Haines says that he doesn't feel like a hero. Nevertheless, having said that, he adds that he'd do it all over again Ð in a heartbeat. "I hope something like this never happens again, but I'd never run from it if it did," he said.
