Basic training

Reporters learn what it takes to be a paramedic

Asking tough questions and pounding out a story on a tight deadline are normal parts of the day for Jessica Piche.

Starting an intravenous (IV) line or opening a blocked airway? Not so much.

Piche, a reporter for daily commuter paper Metro, joined other media members at Calgary’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) headquarters on May 19 to learn what it takes to be a paramedic.

Moving through four stations manned by EMS personnel, Piche started an IV line, used an oral airway and bag valve mask to help an unconscious patient breathe, performed an endotracheal intubation (inserting a tube through the mouth down into the trachea), and strapped a patient with a suspected broken back onto a backboard. The ‘patients’ were human simulators, commonly used for health-care training throughout Alberta Health Services.

“It was a lot harder than I thought it would be,” Piche says.

“It was nerve-racking. It was a little intense.”

Piche came to the event, which was held to promote EMS Awareness Week (May 16-22), as part of a story assignment. She left with a newfound appreciation for the job paramedics do.

There are about 3,000 EMS personnel in Alberta who respond to 400,000 ambulance calls every year. While Piche performed all of her tasks in a controlled environment with lots of help and guidance, paramedical staff in the field do the same job on real people in the back of an ambulance as it speeds to a hospital.

Throw in the adrenalin and life-and-death nature of a real-life situation and Piche says she’s happy to be a news reporter.

“I had a hard enough time with a simulator on a table,” Piche says with a laugh. “To do this stuff with a real person in the field, that’s unbelievable.”

The event was designed to be a fun, interactive way to engage and educate the media on what paramedics do on a daily basis, says Adam Loria, public education officer for EMS in the Calgary area.

“We want the media and public to know how skillful this job is,” says Loria. “Putting an IV in a small vein on a bumpy road while travelling at 100 kilometres an hour with lights and sirens is not an easy thing to do.”