Everywhere you look, Pregnant women!!


It was my fifth shift up in Stony Rapids today and I am sure realizing one thing fast, there are a lot of pregnant women up here!

In five days I’ve participated in three births, two here at the remote hospital and one at a even more remote reservation clinic, as well as medivac’d two patients in labour down south. I have to be honest and admit that maternity patients and obstetrics's isn't my favorite part about being a paramedic, mostly due to a lack of comfort that ultimately extends from a lack of exposure. Well that lack of exposure has been dealt with lock stock and barrel up here in Stony. I was really nervous for my first medivac of a maternity patient, being alone in a plane 5000ft up and 2+ hours from anywhere, but things have gone really well once I just tackled the experience as a chance to apply what I learned and school and really attempt to become comfortable with the situations.

Just today I had to medivac a younger lady who was 34wks gestation, P2 G3, who was experiencing contractions since 0500 (call came in at 0700). I was sent on a quick 18 minute flight to the nearby reservation of Fond Du Lac where I was under the impression that the patient would be brought back to Stony for assessment. However, when I arrived at the reserve’s tiny air strip the RN informed me that the patient was progressing too quickly and that the doctor in Stony had decided to send her directly south where the NICU team would be available.

Some medics HATE it when the doctors and nurses spring this sort of decision on them once they’ve already departed and are in the air. Maybe its because I’m new but I didn’t mind the slightest!

“Right on!” I said, “Lets go south!”

The patient was loaded into the back of the reserv’s ‘ambulance’, which is just a dodge Durango with the seats taken out in the back, and then moved to the plane. The 2.5hr flight south was uneventful (whew!) and I spent the trip checking vitals, monitoring contraction and taking pictures of the scenery as the patient slept.


After unloading in Prince Albert the pilots and I zipped into town to pick up a few delicacies that are unavailable up north, things like bananas’s, milk, apples, carrots and of course egg nog.

And now here I sit, back in my office, almost done my shift, typing away frantically so I can go and help situate the ward patients around the TV to watch the grey cup game.


5 down 9 to go!

By the way, I know this video is kind of lame, its just of me flying back to Stony after dropping a patient off, but its got some nice scenery.

First Northern Medi-Vac!

Well I did my first medi-vac yesterday. It wasn't anything to exciting or challening, but it was still awesome to get off the ground and log some flight time finally!

I took lots of pics from the air but not many of them turned out to great. If anyones wondering, the red mark on my nose is from wearing my N95 mask for two and a half hours as I transported a query H1N1 patient into Prince Albert.

Anways, more to come in the next few days.

A nothern day in detail....

I have been up North in the small hamlet of Stony Rapids for four days now, four days down and twelve left to go (but who’s counting?). Despite the slow pace my first few shifts have flown by due to everything so new and different from down south in Saskatoon. In the city, I was doing 8-12 calls a shift, working in the slums day in and day out. Every night I would go home exhausted and a tiny bit depressed at the thought that I would just have to get up and hit the streets again the next day. Up here I am at the small hospital for twelve hours at a time and in those twelve hours I may only see a single patient. The rest of my day is spent performing daily cleaning duties, checking the unit and the flight kits, going through the medi-vac plane with a fine toothed comb, helping the nurses with the ward patients (if there are any), taking drug inventory, and hopefully coming up with something interesting to blog about. The pace is night and day up here compared to the city. I’m sure some people would go crazy after a few shifts, but I don’t think I’m one of those types. It’s only been 4 days, but something tells me that this experience is going to be a rich one that I will value for quiet some time.

To help put what I actually do every day into perspective, I thought I would document my day yesterday, shift number two, to give readers out there an idea of what a remote medic’s job entails.


0645 – Night medic arrived at the residential compound and hands me the keys to the company truck. He informed me about how the night went, how certain patients did, who was admitted, who was discharged, any scheduled flights etc etc.
0650 – I picked up the day shift staff which consists of a nurse practitioner and a RN and drove them to the hospital which is only a 2 minute drive away.
0700 – The nurses and I got a report from the night staff.
0725 – I drove the night shift nurses back to their apartment.
0745 – I drove to the air strip and did a quick check of the medi-vac plane, particularly the oxygen levels.
0815 – Back at the hospital, I helped out on the ward with the three admitted patients, doing things like handing out breakfast’s, giving morning meds, morning vitals etc etc.
0900 – Time for ward rounds with the nurses and the two doctors. There wasn’t a lot to talk about, so the pharmacist gave a quick presentation about a new type of MDI that has been ordered for the department.
1000 – I drove a nurse to the airport so she could catch her flight home after a month up north.
1230 – Lunch
1300 – Assisted with daily duties on the ward.
1400 – A woman in labour came to the ER. The doctor ordered her to be Medi Vac’d to Prince Albert so I began the process. Unfortunately it was snowing hard and our plane was grounded for at least 3 hours as per the pilot. When we finally did get the green light to fly, the woman had progressed too far. We moved her to the labour and delivery room where she delivered a healthy baby boy.
1645 – I went to the airport to pick up a nurse who was coming in to start her tour.
1700 – Two patients came in from the nearby reserve, one with shortness of breath and the other with general weakness and a fever. Both were worked up in emerg by myself and the NP before being admitted to the ward.
1845 – I drove back to the apartment, handed off the keys, and gave a quick to the night shift medic.
1900 – That wrapped it up. I cooked up a quick dinner, did some reading, watched a little TV, phoned my wife and was in bed before 2200.


That’s about it. Of course a day with a medi-vac or two would be quiet different. But enough writing for now, time to hit the sack and do it all over again.

PS, the picture from above is of the airport just after I got into Stony.

North of the 59th

Well its time for just a quick update,


I just finished my first shift up in Stony Rapids at the remote hospital where I work as a flight medic. One down thirteen to go!

Its pretty interesting up here. Stony Rapids itself is a Hamlet with about 200 permanent residents. The hamlet is only accessible by plane for most of the year, as well as a ice road during the cold winter months. It truly is a whole different world up here just below the Northwest Territories border. The first thing I noticed was how expensive things are! I was checking out the general store today and was shocked to find out that a 4litre jug of milk goes for 16 dollars, a 2litre bottle of pop is 7 bucks, heck even a pack of gum is 3 dollars! Good thing all health care contractors are required to fly in 50lbs of food for their 2 week tour.

Anyways, my first shift was very uneventfull, so I will post soon in the next few days and I'll be sure to include some pictures.

Finally a minute to think...

Its 1100 hours here at my new gig in Alberta and things have finally slowed down enough that I can do a proper sized blog, my first in over a week.

But where to start? What to say? I've been fairly busy the last week so I guess I'll just start from the beginning.

Last Tuesday I was down at the tattoo shop, getting some more work done on my arm (which I've decided will never actually be finished!). I was sitting in the chair gritting my teeth when all of a sudden I got a call from a buddy telling me that he had four tickets to the sold out KISS show that night in Saskatoon. What could I say? Other than hell yes!! I've been listening to KISS since I was in high school and I never thought I would get the chance to see them live, the Saskatoon tickets sold out in 6 minutes or something like that.

So I went to the show, and I must say I was totally impressed. For a couple of 60 year old men, Paul and Gene rocked out hard for over 2 hours straight. I'm sure they were a sight for sore eyes backstage, but under the lights in front of all those fans, they were acting like rockstars half their age. The highlight of the night was during "Love Gun" when Paul Stanley flew out over the crowd and played his guitar on a platform high above the center of the crowd. Overall an awesome night!

The next day, I started three straight day shifts on car. Nothing about those shifts stands out in my mind, so I must not have done anything too interesting.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night I worked in the ER at the trauma center. The shifts were awesome and informative as usual, but also a little somber. I couldn't help but be a little sad that I will soon be saying goodbye to all my friends and coworkers in the ER. I truly truly enjoy working there, more so than on the street in Saskatoon, and I have a nagging feeling that not working in the ER as a medic is going to leave a sizeable hole in my life.

Nonetheless, Monday night we had a good call roll into Emerg.

The ambulance patch was something like this "30 year old male, multiple stab wounds to the chest, pulseless, ETA 4 minutes". Well let me tell you a patch like that can liven things up in the ER in quiet a hurry.

Unfortunately the young man was doomed from the beginning I think. The weapon used was unknown, but whatever it was it left 4 huge gaping penetrations in his upper chest. EMS reported that the patient was pulseless on arrival and that they had no choice but to load and go into the unit due to the potential for violence on scene. In the ER, the patient received 20 minutes of high quality CPR, a half dozen units of blood, and countless Epi's, but in the end it just wasn't enough. The code was called and Saskatoon recorded its 6th homicide of the year.

Friday morning I hopped in the truck and made the 7hr trip out west to Rocky Mountain House. I spent all day Friday looking at houses and running other errands to prepare for our arrival in December. Our shifts here are 48 hours long, so once I get off work Monday morning I have to literally RIP back to Saskatoon and frantically pack for my trip up north to the remote hospital. My flight leaves at 7AM Tuesday morning and I don't think I have a single thing packed or planned. I'm kind of kicking myself right now because I didn't leave my self near enough time to prepare for up north, oh well, no one to blame but myself!

On a final note, I heard that the British Columbia Ambulance Service Employees were legislated back to work and into accepting the initial contract proposal that they refused almost four months ago. I really feel for all the guys and girls back home who are getting screwed by their employer. I can only imagine how low moral is. Its never fun to work for an employer that you don't respect, and who you know doesn't respect you, trust me I know. Its a volatile situation that can only last for so long. Don't be surprised to see big things happening in BC, specifically the lower mainland in the next couple months.

Anyways, I better get at my base duties for the day...

Quick One...

I just realized that I haven't posted in a week. I'm crazy busy at the moment so I'll just do a quick update.

I'm currently in Alberta, halfway through my second tour at my new job. Slow and steady so far, but I'm sure things will pick up eventually. I'm not really complaining, its a nice pace compared to the 6-10 calls a day I've been doing for the last year.

I get off work Monday morning, then have to drive 8hrs back to Saskatoon, and catch a early morning flight on Tuesday up to Stony Rapids to start my two week tour at a remote northern hospital.

Lots to post in the next day or two, just finished an awesome three night tour in Emerg!

More to come.....

Just one of those days...

Called to a nursing home last night for a 90 year old female,
"Altered LOC, pt has DNR" was the dispatch info.

Arrive to find a very sick looking patient lying in bed surrounded by about six family members. They say that their mother has been getting sicker over the last ten days, and that they fear this is it and she will pass away very soon.

Initial presentation was poor.

HR 130, carotid pulse only, all others absent
BP 60/0
RR 40
SPO2 77%
GCS 6.

Patient opened eyes vaguely but made no verbal or motor responses. She felt very very warm (didn't have a thermometer on the unit), had cyanosis to the lips, and mottling to the extremities. Pupils were 5mm and very sluggish.

The family told me that their mother had a DNR that specified No CPR, No Intravenous medications, supportive comfort care only. When I reviewed the document, I noticed that is specified that the patient was to be left in the nursing home to pass away in peace. The family then told me that they were dissatisfied with the level of care and emotion with the staff, and that they wanted their mother taken to the hospital of their choice. They said to transport to hospital XXXXXXX. Unfortunately that specific hospital had been on override capacity all night and was diverting all patients to the university. The family was insistent. I then had to do to one of the hardest things of my career, I had to tell the family that if we take their mother to that specific hospital, she may pass away on our stretcher as we wait in the hallway for a bed. They said they didnt care.


As I sat in the back of the unit, placing oxygen, blankets, doing whatever I could to make the patient comfortable, I couldnt help but notice the overwhelming feeling I had, that I was watching someone in their last moments, that after 90 years of life, this woman was now in her last few minutes, lying 12 inches away from me on our rickedy ambulance stretcher. My greatest fear was that she would die right there in the ambulance, and that the last person that she would hear or see would be me, and not her family.

We made it to the hospital and were promptly directed to the hallway to await a bed.
I poked my head through the triage glass, a mere 4 inches from the nurse,
"there must be SOMETHING you can do, this woman is passing away as we speak" I whispered.

"Sorry Matt, there is literally NO WHERE to go, wait in the back hall or in the back of the ambulance" was her reply.

I made note of her current vital signs.
HR 60
BP unable to obtain
SPO2 60% on 15 Litres
RR less than 10

The daughter was now holding her mothers hands, in tears she turned to me and asked if it was time. Holding back tears of my own, I told her that we would do whatever we could to give them some privacy.

We wheeled the stretcher far away from the front desk, into a deserted part of the hallway. The daughter insisted that we stay by her side, so we did. And as her mothers heart rate slowly faded, as her respirations slowly diminished, and as her eyes slowly closed for the last time, the three of us stood, side by side in painfull silence as the life of this very loved woman slipped away.


I retrieved one of the ER docs, and he promptly came back and pronounced the patient.
The family grieved, but stopped just long enough to thank my partner and I for everything we did.

As I walked away I couldnt help but think that no one had ever been less deserving of thanks.

It's a sad thing when people loose loved ones. Most of the death that paramedics deal with is loud, bloody, gruesome and fast. This is an example of the calmer, quieter, more peacefull side of a devastating but inevitable process.

My sympathies to the family....