Jeremy Nolais » Bonnyville Nouvelle

The medic life: A look at some of the men and women behind Bonnyville’s emergency response service

Jeremy Nolais — Thu, 24 May 2007 18:25:43 +0000

Talk to some of the 32 workers that make up Bonnyville’s emergency response service and they will tell you their job is like no other.
“Every call is different in one way or another and that’s what keeps you on your toes,” said Ken Theodore, interim manager of the unit. “You never know what you’re going into until you get there. I have had guns and knives waved in my face. I have been beaten up, thrown up on, you name it.”
Despite those dangers and many more during his near quarter-century of work in the field, Theodore still holds few regrets about his career decision.
“There are a lot of calls that when you’re done you feel good about it. Obviously there are calls you don’t feel good about as well, but for the most part you feel that you have done something to help somebody,” Theodore said.He began working as an emergency responder after losing a close friend in a tragic truck accident.
“None of us were trained and we all stood around and waited for an ambulance to come, which took about 45 minutes. The guys that came were trained, but they were not the best and my friend ended up dying due to the amount of time he waited and the lack of care he received while waiting,” Theodore explained. “That was when I decided enough is enough and I joined my local ambulance crew. At that time all you needed to be was a person who could drive fast.”
As time went on Theodore realized this was the job for him and eventually decided to become a paramedic. Now he has been with the Bonnyville service for three years and is on call 24 hours a day seven days a week.
“Right now my hours are very tough. My wife is very understanding, but for everybody here it can be tough, that’s just the way it is,” Theodore said.
Currently only five of the workers in the unit are full-time. The other staff are casual workers who are paid $2 an hour during their shift when not responding to calls.
“The casual guys work their normal full-time jobs until five and then come here. We have had people come in and work the entire night shift and then go back to work again in the morning,” Theodore said. “We have got school teachers, we have got electricians, truck drivers, housewives, accountants and others from all different walks of life and they dedicate themselves when they’re here. You just don’t find this commitment elsewhere, it’s just fantastic.”
Andrea von Albedyhill has worked as a casual EMR for three years now.
“Everybody is here because they enjoy what they do. They’re not here because it’s a job they have to do. Money is not the priority, the priority is getting out there and helping,” she said.
Since von Albedyhill lives just a few blocks from the ambulance hall, she is able to stay at home during her shift. When a call comes in over the radio she must be back at work and ready to roll within five minutes.
“It’s great because I don’t have to deal with all the paperwork and stuff, I can watch TV, do the dishes just as long as it’s not something like baking bread where it will burn if you leave,” she joked.
During her three years of work as an EMR, von Albedyhill admits there have been a few rough moments.
“I had to deal with a suicide and that was hard because I was thinking ‘why am I doing this?’ but when it’s done it’s done and if I didn’t do it, somebody else would have had to,” she said. “It’s all about learning from each call. I always re-evaluate everything afterwards and figure out what I can do better next time.”
All of the 26-year-old’s hard work has led to some positive moments as well.
“We took a little girl on a transfer to Edmonton and when we got there the dad gave us a hug and the grandmother gave us a hug because they were so excited that their daughter had made it there safely and that she was well taken care of. Something like that makes you feel so amazing.”
Von Albedyhill hopes to do her EMT training in the future and continue to work in the field part time.
Theodore said even though he has a very dedicated group of individuals, the service still needs more staff.
“EMS in general if you talk to anybody is under staff. There are no paramedics and it’s often really tight,” he said. “Some days we could use like 100 staff, other days we would only need maybe two. It all depends on the day.”
Over the last three months Bonnyville EMS has averaged eight calls a day. Theodore said the types of emergencies have changed somewhat over the years.
“When I first came here we dealt with mostly medical-related calls, things like chest pain and breathing problems. But as our population is getting younger we are starting to get more and more trauma,” Theodore said. “This year we have been to more car accidents than any other year and it’s not even over yet.”
Theodore can still recall the first car accident he responded to, a head on collision involving seven people.
“One guy was trapped in the front seat…we spent 45 minutes cutting and tearing the car to pieces and we got him out and he lived. He didn’t have too many bones that weren’t broken but the bottom line is he lived,” the medic said. “Unfortunately his wife, who was out of the vehicle walking around when we got there did not live. She died from internal bleeding caused by wearing her seatbelt too high on her waist. It was something we never saw coming until it was too late.”
Memories like this have had an impact on how Theodore lives when away from work.
“I am scared to death of quads because I have seen what can happen when they aren’t used safely,” Theodore said. “There are other things too. For example I can smell blood. Flesh and blood have a very distinct odour, I can smell it even when just talking about it.”
Jay Curtis, the youngest full-time employee on staff at 20 years of age, also said the job has made him more cautious in his daily activities.
“I have realized that just one little bump on the head can kill you. I have seen people make it through miraculous things, through car accidents where they have been thrown through the air, but at the same time I have seen drunk people fall over hit their head and never get back up again,” Curtis said. “I will still go out. I like water and I go boating, it’s just a matter of being extra careful. Even when we go hunting I will always make sure I have a cellphone and know exactly where I am and how to get in there.”
During his two years of work so far, Curtis has found the toughest part of his job is to control the adrenalin rush that comes with each call.
“If you get worked up, you are not going to do your job properly,” Curtis said. “You get all types of calls and you never fully know what’s going on until you get there. It’s a different job every day and it’s dirty sometimes and it’s very emotional, it has its highs and lows.”
Theodore agrees that staying calm is important when responding in the field.
“People within the emergency service community rely on humour that is very off the wall. We will tell jokes the whole way out and we keep very relaxed,” Theodore said.
He admitted it can be tough to stay calm when racing down a highway at high speeds.
“I have had to sit on the floor in the back of an ambulance while it was going 160 kilometres (per hour) because I couldn’t keep myself up on the seat,” Theodore said.” The biggest problem is people that don’t pull over and when they do they don’t slow down. If someone moves to the shoulder but is still going 120 (km/h) then it takes that much longer to get by them and it puts them at risk and us at risk, as well as the oncoming traffic.”
He said the windshields on the ambulances have to be replaced about once every three months due to rocks being thrown up from people speeding on the shoulders of the road.
“With our own driving, speed is something we are trying to get away from and instead use our skills as paramedics to buy us some time,” Theodore said. “You have to assess the risk. If there is someone that is having chest pains and their face is turning colours then we had better hurry, but if someone has broken their leg they’re not going anywhere and so we can slow down and get there safely.”
Bonnyville EMS currently has four ambulances and is looking to add a fifth next month. It will cost about $110,000 for the vehicle and another $60,000 to stock it properly.
Theodore hopes the new unit will help improve the efficiency of the service in the future. He plans to stay in Bonnyville for the rest of his career.
“I want to keep going for as long as I can,” Theodore said. “It’s all about the feeling you get when helping people. The best feelings don’t come from the traumas where you are knee deep in blood and have to save somebody’s life, they come from the little things.
“It’s about going to an elderly person’s home early in the morning and they are alone and worked up so they have got chest pain. By just sitting down with them and helping them relax, you have made a difference in that person’s life.”

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Residents appeal deck decision

Jeremy Nolais — Thu, 24 May 2007 18:22:21 +0000

The Municipal District of Bonnyville will allow a deck and stairway partially constructed on the Moose Lake environmental reserve to stay in place.
After hearing a protest from local residents Tuesday, the Municipal District of Bonnyville’s Subdivision and Development Appeal Board upheld the development permit issued to lakefront property owner Don Lafond.
Lawyer Michel Fontaine launched the appeal on behalf of concerned lakefront property owners including his father, Guy.“If this development is allowed to stand and other developments are put in like it, than we can all say goodbye to Moose Lake,” Fontaine told the board. “We have in many respects become custodians of the environment. We used to depend on the environment, now it depends on us.”
An environmental reserve is a strip of land owned and administered by a municipal government. They exist between subdivided land and the shore of any lake, river or stream and the purpose is to prevent pollution from entering the water body.
The MD plans to install signs this summer informing people of the reserve area and warning them not to alter the land without permission.
“The MD should not allow people to cut trees down in these areas, that must be stopped and it has already clearly been done here,” Fontaine said. “If this is allowed we are sending a clear message to others that they can do the same.”
Lafond constructed his deck and then applied to the MD’s Municipal Planning Commission for a development permit. The permit was granted providing that he reduce the width of the deck from 3.66 metres to 2.37 metres. Lafond was also told to remove the roof system, construction materials and a set of stairs put in by the previous property owner. He had until July 31 to comply.
“First of all, I have very fond memories of swimming in Moose Lake when I was younger and have enjoyed my time there,” Lafond said. “I was able to realize a lifelong dream when I had the opportunity to acquire a lakefront property.”
Lafond told the board he was forced to construct new stairs because the structure built by the previous owner had become unstable due to erosion and landslides. He used a photograph to support his claim.
“Someone else had already constructed stairs there and all I was doing was re-establishing my access to the lake,” Lafond said. “I took great steps to make the structure blend in with the natural setting. My neighbours have commented that they can’t see it. I have not built it as a showpiece as many others have done and I am very proud of what I have built.”
Caroline Palmer, MD development officer, agreed that a stairway is needed and the old structure was no longer safe.
“We do recognize that the topography of the area makes access extremely difficult if stairs are not allowed,” Palmer said.
Fontaine said an investigation into the health of Moose Lake conducted in 2001 found that the lake’s riparian areas were in trouble. Riparian areas are the boundaries that exist between land and bodies of water.
“Scientists recognize that a riparian shoreline is crucial to a healthy water system for wildlife habitat, for maintaining stream banks, decreasing water velocity and increasing biodiversity,” Fontaine said. “During the study they discovered that 71 per cent of the riparian area around Moose Lake is unhealthy. That was six years ago, I can only imagine what the damage is now.”
He also questioned Lafond’s use of cement to hold the stairway support pillars in place.
“There is scientific proof that wildlife relies on riparian areas for habitat. Drilling cement into the ground and knocking trees down cannot assist wildlife vegetation,” Fontaine said.
Lafond questioned the scientific proof that Fontaine referred to and insisted he made very little impact on the area during construction.
“When building the stairs I cut only small shrubs and I did not use chemicals or heavy equipment. I did it all by hand,” Lafond said. “I selectively by hand, removed some rocks to make an area for my boat and a small swimming area.”
He presented the board with many photos of similar docks constructed by residents living nearby.
“As you can see the precedence has already been set, these other landing portions are no different than mine,” Lafond said.
Fontaine said things have changed since the time when the other decks were built.
“This was an area that a few years ago was not considered important, but now we have watershed management groups. There are clearly people concerned about this lake,” Fontaine said.
After both sides concluded their arguments, the board opened the floor for input from other people attending the appeal.
“We just kind of awoke to find this elaborate (deck) system in place,” said lakefront resident Rick Pidde. “We all want to enjoy the lake, and this is beginning to look more like a marina than a deck.”
The appeal board then asked everyone to leave the room while it discussed a decision. In the end the board decided to support the original development permit application, meaning Lafond will be allowed to keep the deck and stairway as long as he meets the previous conditions by July 31.
The Nouvelle contacted Lafond after the appeal and he had nothing further to add except that he was satisfied with the outcome.

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