The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission awards the Carnegie Medal to individuals from throughout the United States and Canada who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree saving or attempting to save the lives of others.
On September 23, the commission recognized 15 Americans and three Canadians for risking their lives while trying to save others from perilous, life-threatening situations. One of those Canadians was Michael Douglas Barkhouse, of Walton, Nova Scotia.
Barkhouse saved a kennel attendant from an attacking dog at a shelter in Yellowknife, on June 17, 2017.
Barkhouse, a 44-year-old construction worker, was driving to work when he spotted the woman in a fenced kennel with the dog and heard her screaming. Barkhouse wore leather work gloves and used a wooden stake from his truck to force open an outer latch on the kennel. He entered it and yelled at the dog, striking it with his feet and hands until it released the woman.
As the dog retreated, Barkhouse dragged the woman to the kennel’s holding area. He then closed the inner gate to separate the dog from them. The attendant was hospitalized and treated for numerous bites. Barkhouse’s right hand was bruised.
With this third announcement of 2019 recipients, a total of 10,117 Carnegie Medals have been awarded since the Pittsburgh-based Fund’s inception in 1904.
Commission Chair Mark Laskow said each of the awardees or their survivors will also receive a financial grant. Throughout the more than 115 years since the Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, $41 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.
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