By James Bowler

BOB Award nominee shows true heart

May 22, 2015 | 6:48 AM

A man who has saved lives for 17 years has been nominated for a local hero award, but he wants a young lifesaver’s actions to be recognized instead.

Parkland Ambulance paramedic Ramsay Bellisle is asking the public to vote for 15-year-old Dylan Dubois, who helped to save the life of his father, Ed.

On Mar. 20, Dubois, who has been diagnosed as autistic, calmly called 911 and explained to the operator what was happening when his father suddenly collapsed from a heart attack.

“I’ve been working 17-and-a-half years and I don’t even recognize all of the time when somebody is having a heart attack,” said Bellisle. “If I had known [earlier], I would have been on right away saying I’m voting for Dylan.”

Bellisle was nominated for a Best Local Hero Best of the Best (BOB) Award on paNOW. He recently asked the community to vote for Dylan instead of himself in a Facebook post:

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“I want to give a heartfelt thank you to whoever spent a month nominating me for [a] Local Hero award in the P.A. BOBs. But, now I need you all to vote for my “competition” Dylan Dubois; Dylan saved his dad and should get the award.”   

Dubois’ mom Kathy Rishchynsky, said that she was very emotional about Ramsay’s call to have her son voted as Best Local Hero, but she was not surprised.

“That’s just the kind of guy he is,” said Rishchynsky. “If I could give him an award I would, he’s just really a nice guy.”

She added that she did cry because what he had written about her son was so touching.

Since the incident with his father and recognition from family and friends as well as local media, Rishchynsky said that her son has been very nonchalant about the entire event.

“He just kind of takes it in stride, that was his dad and he had to do what he had to do,” said Rishchynsky. “He doesn’t think of himself as a hero, we do, his dad and I do.”

For now, Rishchynsky and Dubois’ father Ed haven’t mentioned the BOB award nomination to him, just in case he doesn’t win.

“We didn’t want that to take away from the fact that we think he’s a hero,” said Rishchynsky. “There’s still another person in the three, so I still hesitate to tell him because I don’t know what’s going to happen, and I don’t think he would be upset about it, but I don’t want to ruin it for him.”

Whether or not Dubois wins against Bellisle or the category’s other nominee, local Paralympic athlete Brittany Hudak, he still has many supporters, including Bellisle.

“Dylan is just a young guy and he noticed that his dad is having a heart attack and he knows enough to pick up the phone and call 911, even though his dad probably was saying ‘no don’t’,” said Bellisle.

Voting for the BOB Awards closes on May 27 and the winners will be announced on June 3. Bellisle has also been nominated for the Best Paramedic Award, along with Lyle Karasiuk and Karyn Steinke.

jbowler@panow.com

On Twitter: @journalistjim