ABS Employee Presented with St. John Ambulance Gold Lifesaving Award

March 2, 2017 in People
Explorer: Spring 2017

Catherine (Maggy) Nagus, who was born and raised in Wollaston Lake, was presented with the St. John Ambulance (SJA) Gold Lifesaving Award on December 1, 2016. The presentation was made at Government House in Regina, Saskatchewan as part of the St. John Ambulance Saskatchewan Council Awards Presentations.

Presented by Her Honour the Honourable Vaughn Solomon Schofield, DStJ, SOM, SVM, the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan and Vice Prior, the SJA Gold Lifesaving Award recognizes individuals, or groups of individuals, who have saved or attempted to save a life through the administration of first aid knowledge and skills, where a degree of risk to life exists.

Ms. Nagus (who goes by the name Maggy) was one of only two people in the Province of Saskatchewan in 2016 to be recognized at the Gold Lifesaving Award level.

Currently in her eleventh year as an Industrial Security Officer with Athabasca Basin Security, Maggy was on duty at Cameco’s Cigar Lake mine when she heard a noise and turned to witness an unprovoked wolf attack on a contractor that had been working at site. She immediately ran for her security vehicle and used it to chase the wolf away, then returned to the scene, called for help and began to render first aid until the Emergency Response Team could arrive.

The attack, which occurred shortly after midnight on August 30th, 2016, left a 26 year old contractor severely injured. He was later airlifted to a Saskatoon hospital for further treatment of his injuries.

Cameco Emergency Response Team member, Brandon Zarazun who responded to Maggy’s call for assistance stated, “During the response, we noticed that the attacking wolf was still within close distance of the scene with the obvious intention of wanting to come back. It is certain, that if Maggy had not rushed into the scene with her vehicle, the victim would not have survived.”

A quiet, soft-spoken Maggy remains very humble about the events of that night, saying that as “the mother of four boys, I just wanted to protect him.”

“Working in close-proximity to where large carnivores live is something that our staff deal with on an ongoing basis,” says Ron Hyggen, CEO of Athabasca Basin Security. “I am extremely proud of Maggie for her heroism and level-headed thinking in this stressful situation. Her actions and those of the site nurse and the Emergency Response Team came together and demonstrated why there is a great deal of effort put into practicing emergency protocols at site. The management and staff at Athabasca Basin Security are extremely grateful and appreciative of the team effort that took place that evening.”