Kaeli Ritchie knows from experience just how important first aid training is.

The 20-year-old education student is working for the city's bylaw department this spring and summer.

She made use of that training on the job just last Thursday when she helped a woman who had fallen into the Yukon River.

Ritchie was patrolling on First Avenue near The Kanoe People business shortly after 4:30 p.m. She came across another woman who told her someone had fallen into the river.

Confirming that an ambulance had been called, Ritchie then took off to the spot, near the trolley stop on First Avenue.

There, she found the woman, who had just gotten out of the water, and another woman who had helped her.

"She was hyperventilating, distressed about what had just happened and she was coughing up water earlier, so I just made sure she was down and calm," Ritchie told the Star Tuesday.

"I just comforted her, got her to breathe deeper, slow down and reassured her the ambulance was on its way and everything was going to be OK."

It was through her first aid training that Ritchie knew it was important to get the woman to breathe more deeply and work on keeping her calm in the five minutes that elapsed before the ambulance arrived.

This was the first time Ritchie, who didn't work for bylaw before this spring, has been involved in a rescue.

"It's nice to know what you're doing matters and I could be there to help somebody," she said.