Sarah Shaw of Prince George collected a silver medal after competing in an EMS Skills Competition in the Czech Republic at the end of May.
She was part of a four-person team from BC that placed 2nd in the international paramedic division and had to complete 10-12 scenarios over a 24-hour period, which included hostage situations, radioactive materials and poison control, and toxic substances among others.
Shaw’s teammates consisted of Alex Mattes of Nanaimo, Tyrone Trotter of Victoria, and Ryan Casselman of Comox.
In an interview with MyPGNow.com, Shaw compared some of the challenges of working in the north.
“We are sent into very remote areas, we have very limited resources and you have to make the best of what you have in that situation with all of those limited resources, MacGyver is what I like to call it. The more you can train and prepare for those situations and when they happen in real life, you are that much better for it.”
“A lot of these calls that they give are things that happen once in a blue moon. But, the more they prepare us for these things like the high acuity, low occurrence calls, or HALO events that we train for but don’t get in our career – this competition is essentially throwing at you those HALO events.”
Shaw who is a critical care paramedic at the BC Emergency Health Services medevac base located at the Prince George Airport said her current role is a little bit different than what most people normally think of.
“It’s different from a lot of the ground resources, which typically do a lot of pre-hospital work and then we rely on them big time to help us move around the province. It’s a little bit different because sometimes we don’t see the accident right up front but we will see the patient right after they have been transported to hospital.”
The Rallye Rejviz has been taking place in the Czech Republic for the last 26 years.
Paramedics across BC but especially in Prince George are often run off their feet responding to numerous types of calls. Local medics find themselves in the thick of the illicit drug crisis where they responded to a record-high 1,466 overdose calls in 2022.
Shaw adds with the types of calls paramedics attend to on a regular basis, finding a balance outside of work is key in order to maintain your mental health.
“When you are on a call that is significantly traumatic, I have a great team of people that I work with and we just debrief at the moment and we also have a built-in critical incident stress debriefing team throughout BC Ambulance that has been wonderful.”
“I try to get outside and as much fresh air as possible. I travel, and anybody who knows me knows that no one knows where I am at any given time. I could be anywhere. I am also a German Sheppard dog who keeps me very, very grounded she is my best friend and I basically rely on my family and friends and I spend as much time with them as I can.”
Shaw and her teammates rounded up a score of 9,725, 134 points back of an American team from New Jersey.
A link to the results can be found here.
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