An all female first of the Shuswap crew proved that marine search and rescue is women乌鸦传媒檚 work.
With a bit of last minute serendipity, a crew of all women 乌鸦传媒� including the two paramedics from the BC Emergency Health Services 乌鸦传媒� responded to a call on Monday, Aug. 4 during the long weekend, which was a first for the local station of the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue (RCMSAR).
Station leader Tamara Lansing explained that for the long weekend, they put together pre-planned crews of a coxswain, helm, navigator and a crew member on lookout, with one person making the schedule for any call outs.
乌鸦传媒淥n that day there was actually five of us scheduled, and one of them was a guy, but he didn乌鸦传媒檛 answer and so another girl stepped in," she said. 乌鸦传媒淚t just so happened that our only female coxswain, plus one of our only female helms and two of us are navigators and one is crew, that we were all just together. And then so was BC Ambulance both ladies.乌鸦传媒�
Given that there are only seven women on the crew altogether, and calls require two people from another agency, the odds made the situation a long shot.
Lansing added that they always take paramedics with them on medical calls, which account for 60 to 65 per cent of them, and while all RCMSAR members have First Aid and CPR, and four are also First Responders, 乌鸦传媒渋t乌鸦传媒檚 just safer if BC Ambulance comes with us so that the patient gets the care that they need.乌鸦传媒�
To accommodate whatever those needs may be, both RCMSAR vessels are fully outfitted with everything that would be in an ambulance.
"So both boats are an ambulance," Lansing said. "Just on the water."
That day's call was for somebody who had an accident on the rail trail near Hurricane Bay on Mara Lake. Given the RCMSAR station's close proximity, it was faster to go by boat. Once there, the paramedics checked the person over and cleared them to stay on site with no transport needed.
乌鸦传媒淚t was all good, a good situation. It all went well. It was just a really cool experience to have all women on the boat. It was a good outcome overall, so that乌鸦传媒檚 always a nice thing too," Lansing said. "Those calls where if they don乌鸦传媒檛 come back with us, those are honestly the best calls, because we know that the person乌鸦传媒檚 safe.乌鸦传媒�
