Sharon Carry will forever be grateful for the swift actions of her five-year-old granddaughter Shyla.
A few weeks ago Carry was babysitting Shyla and her two-year-old brother Dylan at her home in Cochrane. A layer of frost covered her back deck and when Carry stepped outside, she fell hard. Carry couldn’t move and laid there helpless in -15 C conditions.
Carry called out to her granddaughter and asked her to get her cellphone from inside her home so Carry could call EMS. Shyla returned with her cellphone and a warm blanket to cover up her grandmother who was still immobilized on the deck. Shyla even opened the front door to allow EMS to enter the home and tend to her grandmother.
Shyla’s mom Stephanie Talbot said at one point, between the accident and the EMS arriving, Shyla hid under a blanket on the couch. Her brother slept through the entire ordeal.
“You never really know how your kids are going to react,” Talbot said. Talbot said while Shyla was likely overwhelmed by the incident, she has recovered well and is mostly concerned about her grandmother.
Carry spent a week at Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary, underwent surgery on her broken femur and will still require eight weeks of rehabilitation. She’s now back in Cochrane recovering.
“Her grandma is her favourite person, I’m not surprised that she helped. I was kind of shocked that she went and got the blanket and the phone.” Talbot remarked that most homes don’t have a landline and most children can’t unlock a cellphone. Talbot is thankful that Shyla was able to help.
Cochrane RCMP and representatives from Cochrane and Area Victim Services (CAVS) invited Shyla and her parents to the detachment Friday afternoon. CAVS executive director Lauren Delahunt helped Shyla open her many gifts from the detachment that included a commemorative bravery certificate, a princess crown, a stuffed animal and other goodies.
Members from the detachment even took Shyla for ice cream at McDonald’s in a police car.
Acting Detachment Commander Staff Sgt. Dave Brunner was impressed with Shyla’s actions.
“Police work is about helping. We’re always looking for good people to join the RCMP and it’s never too early to start recruiting,” Brunner said.
“We thought it was a good thing to do for Shyla and recognize her for what she did. Ultimately in our line of work we see people that break bones all the time and they don’t survive. She very much could have saved her grandma’s life.”