If you don't have to deal with them it's a good day, and if you do have to deal with them it could be one of the worst days of your life.
Either way, you can't help but appreciate the kind of work St. Albert's paramedics do to serve and protect the community.
Hundreds of residents took the opportunity last Saturday to head down to Fire Hall #3 on Giroux Road to celebrate the service paramedics provide and wrap up the May 24 to 30 National Paramedic Week.
Deputy Chief Percy Janke said this open house is one of several annual events hosted by the St. Albert Fire Department, which also provides ambulance service in this community.
"It's part and parcel of being part of the community," he said. "It allows for seeing a different side of the ambulance and fire first-response."
While there was plenty of light-hearted entertainment, with kids enjoying bouncy castles and the chance to get into a firetruck to have their picture taken, the event also focused on techniques paramedics use in the field.
Christa Warwa, a paramedic with the department, spent some time showing some basic techniques to Jayden Van Leeuwen, who just finished a basic emergency medical response course.
"You've got to make sure everything's lined up, then you lift up and look for the trachea," she said as she helped the young man intubate, or clear a training dummy's airway.
"Blow up the balloon, take this off, and you're always looking at the tube," she instructed. "Never take your eye off the tube."
Tracheal intubation is just one of the many techniques she was demonstrating, and she was also showing off some of the kit that she and other paramedics use in the line of duty.
For Van Leeuwen, it was an instructive experience to work with a professional to see in action some of the things he learned about in school.
"I just found it interesting," he said. "And I want to be on an ambulance one day."
Janke noted the fire department has more than 90 full-time on-the-ground first responders, with the vast majority with either the Emergency Medical Technician designation or the higher-level paramedic designation. As an integrated department, members take some shifts on the ambulance and some shifts on the fire apparatus, which he said serves the community well.
"It helps with skill maintenance, but it also helps with having the patient contact," he said. "Because we provide medical first response with the fire apparatus, it kind of supplements EMS."
If an ambulance can't respond to the scene as quickly as the fire equipment, even if it's just a few minutes later, having fire equipment with Advanced Life Support capabilities can save lives.
At the open house, Janke said he was happy to see so many residents – including some very young – try their hand at the techniques and see first-hand how the department's members do their job.
And looking toward the department's future, he noted there were a couple of future prospects who came through the open house on Saturday.
"We've had kids as young as eight or 10 years old trying to do intubations, and they're doing a bang-up job, just seeing how things go."
Emergency preparedness
For those who missed the open house on Saturday, there will be another opportunity this weekend to meet with some of the St. Albert Fire Department's finest on Sunday afternoon.
The city is hosting a Public Safety Open House June 7 at St. Albert Place, with representatives from the fire department, the RCMP including an explosives disposal unit, the Search and Rescue Dog Association of Alberta and an amateur radio operators' club.
Colleen Lamble, the city's emergency management co-ordinator, said the overlying message of the open house will be that preparation and prevention are key to navigating an emergency.
For example, she said everyone should consider having 72 hours of provisions, including food and water, on hand at all times in case the unexpected happens. People should also think about meeting places and how to stay in contact in the event of a widespread emergency.
"You need to think of these things ahead of time," she said.
The Sunday event is free, and is scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at St. Albert Place.
