First responders have a tough job to do at the best of times, whether they are police officers, fire fighters, EMS or doctors and nurses. No matter their position, these people will deal with situations that arise with no warning and require personnel with specialized training.
Weyburn’s first responders were certainly given a test over the weekend, after a violent incident that left an 18-year-old dead and three others facing serious charges as a result.
It would be inappropriate to talk about what happened on Friday night at a house on Fourth Street, as the matter is now before the courts, and many, many people will now try to grapple with all of the aspects of the incident — and make no mistake, this has impacted a lot of people.
This is where all the specialized training and years of experience pays off, however, as when an emergency arises, there are people who can respond, and use their knowledge to deal with each aspect of just what happened.
Most residents of the city had no idea at the time what had occurred, and their lives for the most part went on, with each person involved in their own world, their own concerns and problems.
The true value of emergency personnel is their willingness to respond at the instant they are needed, and they respond, not knowing what they’ll find. But their training and their instincts kick in and they do their job, often without any thanks or even awareness by most people of what it is they have to do.
What the public should realize is, there is not only an impact on the family, friends and neighbours from an incident like this, but there is an impact on the first responders who had to jump into the fray and deal with everything.
This was the point that paramedic Nicholas Hennink made when he visited the city’s first responders in December, and passed on a message about the importance for them to make sure they look after their mental health.
He released a music video honouring the work that police, fire and EMS do, and lifted them up as “warriors” who fight for the good of society, protecting and serving us all.
These modern-day heroes do what most of us could not, and would not, do in dealing with people facing situations that would horrify most of us. Thus, we need to be supportive of our first responders, no matter what their role is, and it wouldn’t hurt once in a while to thank them as they handle situations most of us would never want to ever be involved in.
