Alex Cooke · CBC News · Posted: Aug 20, 2019 6:00 AM AT | Last Updated: August 20
A young sea cadet is proud of the way he and his team handled a medical emergency at a Halifax-area festival over the weekend.
Mikhael Zavala, 16, was on his way to meet up with his fellow cadets during the annual Pirate Days festival at Fisherman's Cove in Eastern Passage on Saturday afternoon, where they were volunteering.
But as he was on his way, one of his officers came up to him and asked if he had his first aid training.
"I responded, 'Of course,' and so she brings me over to this man who was currently having a seizure, and they need a first aid responder," said Zavala, who's with the 24 Magnificent Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps in Dartmouth.
He said the man having the seizure was surrounded by his family members, and another man was holding an umbrella over his head to shield him from the sun.
'I had to focus at the task at hand'
As a large crowd formed at the scene, Zavala said he and a small group of other cadets leapt into action.
"The first thing to do was to make sure the crowd dispersed to give the family some space to take care of their son," he said.
"At which point, cadets were stationed out to keep the crowd away, and keep the road clear for when the paramedics arrived."
Zavala said he asked for consent to perform first aid on the patient, but the man's family declined. But he remained on scene to ensure the man's condition didn't get worse and to provide water to the patient if it was needed.
He said he and the other cadets knew exactly what to do.
"As a cadet unit, we learned to work effectively together as teams," said Zavala, who's this year's corps coxswain.
"And so once the cadets saw that I was performing first aid and providing the primary assistance, they essentially understood that I was leading this whole thing."
