ADMITTING that he would’ve been haunted if he had passed a gunshot victim on the side of the road without helping, Bishop Professor Dr Randolph Henry says he didn’t think twice about jumping into action when he realised a man was wounded at a section of Red Hills Road in St Andrew while visiting Jamaica in 2019.

The 52-year-old, who lives in Canada, will be among the Jamaicans who’ll be officially recognised for their contribution to nation-building tomorrow — National Heroes’ Day — during the Ceremony of Investiture and Presentation of National Honours and Awards at National Indoor Sports Centre in St Andrew. He’ll be receiving a Badge of Honour for Gallantry.

On September 11, 2019, while travelling on Red Hills Road with a now former classmate, Henry saved the life of a man who had been shot multiple times by rendering assistance until the police and ambulance services arrived.

He told the Jamaica Observer that he’d been travelling along the road with his classmate when he noticed someone lying on the sidewalk, just before going under the bridge that marks the beginning of Washington Boulevard and the end of Dunrobin Avenue. Having noticed what looked like a figure while driving by, they decided to turn around to check it out. It was after 11:00 pm.

“While driving [towards the figure] I saw some blood stains and figured something must be wrong,” Henry told the Sunday Observer. “The man was groaning and crying for help and I realised he had been shot multiple times.”

The father of two said the first thing he did was to alert the police as he tried to keep the gunshot victim alert and talking.

“I told him to turn over just to make sure that he could breathe properly,” recounted Henry. “I couldn’t leave him because anything could happen.”

He recalled that the police were surprisingly quick on the scene, as he remembered them getting there in under 30 minutes.

“I couldn’t just go home [and leave him there], that would’ve been on my conscience, so I made sure I stayed there until the police came,” he said.

The Meadowbrook High alumnus said concerns about his own safety never surfaced.

“I also think God wouldn’t allow anything to happen, because you are trying to help somebody,” he reasoned.

Besides being a child of God and not wanting to leave someone in need behind, he said he is also an international chaplain, an ex-cadet, and is trained in first aid, which essentially makes him a first responder.

And, according to Henry, rendering assistance to the gunshot victim on Red Hills Road was not the first time he’d helped to save a life.

He told the Sunday Observer that in 2007, as a member of Jamaica Combined Cadet Force, he was driving in Montego Bay with another officer when they noticed a woman in a ditch experiencing what appeared to be an epileptic episode. He said he assisted the woman, who had two young children with her.

She thanked him, he recounted.

Two years later, Henry said he had gone to the High Commission of Canada in Jamaica to check on the status of his application for permanent residence visas for himself and his family, when a woman who was also there collapsed and appeared to have stopped breathing.

With one of his sons at the time, he said he sprang into action, declaring his training in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and rendered assistance to the young woman. He told this newspaper that one of the consular officers, who also declared she had similar training, joined him as he attempted to help the woman.

Henry said he stayed with her until the ambulance came.

That day, Henry said when he went back inside the building his name was called and a request was made for his and his family members’ passports, and he was told to return two days later to pick them up. He said he did not do an interview. That was in June 2009. He migrated to Canada two months later.

Since then he has amassed many accomplishments, both academically and professionally, but he is insistent that anybody can do it — it just takes encouragement.

Sharing his reaction when he found out he made the national honours list this year, Henry told the Sunday Observer that he immediately thought of the story of the good Samaritan. He said, too, that he is humbled by the recognition for something that was second nature to him.

The proud Jamaican, who said being a cadet helped to shape the person he is today, offered some words of encouragement: “Those who are doing good, continue doing what you are doing because one day the things you are doing might open doors of blessings.”

He also said he owes everything to God.

Henry will be one of two people receiving the Badge of Honour for Gallantry, on the Civil Honours List, for having demonstrated remarkable courage by helping those in life-threatening situations. The other person is Jermaine Hurst, who demonstrated compassion and courage in preventing a potential victim attempting suicide.

The late police Constable Ricardo Fairclough will receive the Medal of Honour for Gallantry, posthumously. He lost his life after bravely confronting an armed gunman during a shoot-out, selflessly working to save the life of a vendor in St Ann.