I have always had a soft spot for first responders like paramedics, firefighters, police and emergency room personnel. They have tough jobs, handling crises that most of us can only imagine. Most of us would prefer to have as little to do with them as possible – unless we’re in a crisis ourselves, of course.
But there are times when it changes. My eight-year-old son Declan and I were lucky enough to stumble upon a gathering of first responders in Mount Royal Park at the beginning of September. The police, firefighters and paramedics were hosting an event for Montreal youth.
To be sure, Declan wanted to check it out because of the “bouncy castles.” One of those castles was about a story-and-a-half tall and shaped like a fire truck in front of a burning building. Kids got to go into the burning building, climb up and then slide down. The slide was like what firefighters use to get a bunch of people out of a burning building fast. A great idea.
The paramedics offered training, and I brought Declan over for the 20-minute session. He learned to do the Heimlich maneuver to help a choking victim and what to do if that didn’t work. Then it was on to CPR for people having a heart attack. Finally, it was how to use a defibrillator.
I remarked that they looked a lot different than the defibrillators I trained on around 30 years ago. The paramedic laughed. I gave him another laugh when Declan slowed down on the CPR by saying, “Keep going, Declan, you got to save your dad.”
Declan got the rhythm up again, prompting the paramedic to say, “Whatever motivates them to do it.”
I’m proud of Declan for paying attention and learning this skill. It should be taught to all young people. There were kids even younger than Declan training to save lives.
The firefighters had a smoke machine and were teaching kids to crawl under the smoke to survive better in a fire. I told them about what my late father Ken Nicholls had us do in Mistissini when we would go into the elementary school classrooms with a smoke machine.
When there was enough smoke (not real smoke), a firefighter in full gear with a self-contained breathing apparatus would enter the classroom. Using a SCBA sounds like Darth Vader on steroids with heavy breathing. Plus, the mask looks like one eye. These combined could scare the hell out of kids, making them try to hide from the very people coming to save them. By familiarizing them with a rescuer it could make the job of saving them easier in the event of a real fire.
In the past local police would fix up unclaimed, abandoned bikes for people in the community who needed one. Hopefully this continues.
We need to have the first responders in our communities work with the residents in these ways. It shows they are part of the community in more ways than one. Not only can they respond but train, assist and be a more functional member of the community, getting them the respect they deserve.