Collaboration and teamwork are two of the best tools we can use to keep each other safe. When Emergency Services Coordinator, Devin Jackson and Health Centre Supervisor Erin DeVries got together to create a bigger medical responder umbrella, covering as much of our site as possible, we decided to ask them to share more about their vision.
• Tell us about this medical responder umbrella – who is part of it and what’s the purpose?
DEVIN: We’ve certified some of our active Mine Rescue volunteers up to the Emergency First Responder (EFR) or Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) levels. The goal is to spread out certified staff like a blanket across the operation to better respond to emergencies.
• Erin, from the Health Centre’s perspective, why is it helpful to have extra staff trained up like this?
ERIN: In the event of a medical emergency at the mine site, medical trained responders can provide immediate assistance to stabilize patients and initiate necessary interventions. It is helpful to the nurse, who is the sole medical professional on site and resources can be stretched thin.
• Devin, as a Mine Rescue volunteer, you are always refreshing your emergency responder skill set. Our Mine Rescue team is a no-brainer as extra responders on site, but who else could be helpful?
DEVIN: Having some representation from all departments on site is the end goal here. Someone doesn’t have to be a Mine Rescue volunteer to become a medical responder. We’re always looking to take on more help from anyone who has their Emergency First Responder (EFR) or Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) training, or is wanting to expand their medical responder training to that level.
• At site, we have 17 active Emergency First Responders or Emergency Medical Responders on the roster, and you are aiming to have more than 20. How will you do it?
DEVIN: Scheduling tends to be the largest logistical hurdle here as we work with five different rotations on site. Getting to this level of trained medical responders on site has taken nearly a year to date, but we’re still adding more responders as we can. We plan to continue the emergency responder training and anyone who wants to assist or wants to expand their training in the medical responder field is encouraged to talk to myself or Erin to get involved.
• Erin and Devin, this is a huge undertaking and also an impactful one, as we add more trained responders across site to help in emergencies.
ERIN: Having extra trained responders at Impala Canada enhances all of our safety and improves our emergency response capabilities. This is a great collaboration that will support the well-being of workers at site and across the operation.
Thank you both for taking the time to share more details about this important safety collaboration, which will see more employees learning emergency responder skills and help everyone feel safe at site.
