Letter to the Editor

Re: Head on car crash - Jan 19

As the occupant of one of the vehicles in this collision, I want to take the opportunity thank the emergency services of our town for their hard work and dedication, and to remind our town how fortunate we are.

Thank you as well to the concerned citizens who came on the scene and stopped to help until emergency services arrived.

First on the scene was Officer Emily from the OPP. She was quick to ensure I was as okay as I could be and do an initial assessment of the damage. She checked in regularly during the time Fire and EMS were helping me, and I'm also told she spent the better part of the night at the hospital ER helping with crowd control.

Second was Ken (I hope I remember your name right!) from our volunteer Fire Department - he crawled up into my crumpled vehicle with me and talked me through the entire process of what had to be done to get me out. He was professional and personable. I'm grateful to the entire Fire Department that they take their duties seriously - for a small town crew they work and train diligently, and we are the recipient of their ongoing efforts.

Third was Kendra with EMS - she was gentle, quick and helpful, and again helped talk me through the process of what was happening each step along the way.

En route to the hospital one of those fabulous firefighters (Brad) put on his second hat and turned into an ER nurse and got me ready for the hospital. His calm and effective actions were not unnoticed.

At the hospital, Dr. Murdoch and the entire ER staff worked like a well-oiled machine that was being tested at high capacity. From my initial assessment, to the numerous vials of blood that the lab techs drew and processed, and the efforts of the X-ray and CT techs to make my movements as few as possible to try and keep me comfortable, each action felt coordinated and well managed in a chaotic situation.

 We are very fortunate to have such well trained and high functioning services available to us. I am grateful and wanted to share my appreciation, although I am hoping not to require any of their services again for a long while.

My kudos to all, Kirsten Barrett