By Kathy Gallant

Staff responders at Tolko site help revive truck driver with AED

May 7, 2018 | 5:00 PM

Staff at Tolko’s Meadow Lake OSB Division definitely knew the importance of being prepared for an emergency after an incident last week.

A trucker who was waiting in line to pick up a load at the Tolko site 30 kilometres southeast of Meadow Lake collapsed after getting out of his truck.  

A total of seven trained first responders worked directly with the man in distress, and three others assisted. The responders used one of many onsite automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and also performed CPR on the man until ambulance crews arrived from Meadow Lake.

Trevor Brander, manager of the plant, said employees can voluntarily sign up to be responders. All of the workers have other roles in the plant.

“We just support them by paying for the training and giving them the time to take it,” Brander said. “They have the willingness to put themselves out there to save people if the need arises.”

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He said the entire staff appreciates the fact that these employees take the time to be trained, especially in this scenario.

“The response has to be quick to save somebody in that scenario,” Brander said. “We’re very proud of our first responders, and their speed and execution on this, considering we’re 25 minutes from medical services in town. It’s nice they were able to do what they did and keep him alive on our site.”

Angie Benz was the employee who grabbed the AED from the site’s shipping office and used it on the man. She said this was the first time she had to use her training since being certified three years ago, and since the incident occurred, she’s been thinking about it repeatedly.

“It plays a lot on your mind,” Benz said. “You’re thinking of what you did and what you’ve seen. You don’t think you just do.”

She said the ambulance drivers came back the next day, and shared a shocking statistic. She added she was grateful for the quick reaction time of the fellow first responder colleagues.

“They said if you have a heart attack out of the hospital, there’s usually only a nine percent chance of surviving, if everything goes perfectly. To see him respond to [the AED and CPR] and take his first breath, that was amazing to see,” she said.

Al Swain, the owner of the company the lease operator works for through Tony Lato, was thankful to hear the trucker was able to get help.

“I know they did everything they could to help,” Swain said. “It happened there [where people could help him] he could have been driving down the road.”

Swain added the man is in recovery in hospital in Saskatoon. No further information is available at this time.

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @ReporterKath