First responders reflect on stabbings at JSCN, Weldon

 By Nigel Maxwell

Warning: The following story contains graphic content.

As the one-year mark approaches of the mass stabbings at James Smith Cree Nation and the nearby village of Weldon, one can only imagine what the experience was like for the paramedics and first responders who responded to the scene.

Sherri Morrison is an advanced care paramedic with Prince Albert’s Parkland Ambulance who was working the day shift. Her crew was among those called upon to help with the transport of patients.

“The first car had gone out and we thought at first it was just a low-key assault that had happened and then as time progressed very quickly, we soon realized how big of an incident it was becoming,” she explained. “Your alertness and your adrenaline just kind of gets ramped up as to how big it is and how many other services are out there co-ordinating and working together.”

In addition to crews from Prince Albert, there were also teams from Melfort, Tisdale, Nipawin and STARS Air Ambulance.

“As horrific as an event it is, it’s a good feeling that we can all come together and work together in such a smooth fashion,” Morrison said.

The events that transpired nearly a year ago left 11 people dead and 17 injured. While some patients were transported to Prince Albert, others were sent to Melfort and larger centres like Saskatoon.

On top of the adrenaline, Morrison noted there was also a feeling of fear, given that the person responsible for the stabbings, Myles Sanderson, was still on the loose.

“But we still had to work the rest of our day so you kind of continue on with your day, do your other calls and finish your shift out,” she said.

Noting the close staff dynamic of roughly 80 staff, Morrison explained in the days following the mass stabbings, there were continuous debriefings among staff. There was also an operations meeting the following week to review what was done.

Adding that everyone has their own way of healing, whether it’s through sports, exercise or by leaning on family, Morrison said for those who showed continued struggles, there were additional supports available.

“If we do see one of our colleagues is still not doing very well after a couple days or weeks, a lot of us are pretty good about reaching out. It’s hard to ask but we are getting better at asking for sure,” she said.

Jill Stefanick, the operations manager at Parkland Ambulance’s communications centre in Prince Albert, helped oversee the co-ordinated emergency response.

“We were not just dealing with one call from one location but multiple callers from multiple locations, all frantically seeking critical, medical support,” she explained.

Noting the requirement for multiple crews and multiple ambulances, as well as multiple hospitals to receive the patients and also having to bring in extra staff that had been on days off, Stefanick said the entire response required precision and accuracy by their dedicated team.

Having also worked at the time of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash, Stefanick said the two incidents were similar in their horrific nature as well as large-scale response, but added that with the bus crash there were quite a few calls from the bystanders at one scene.

“With James Smith, there were multiple callers from multiple locations, and it also progressed over multiple hours,” she said. “And for the ambulance crews, it didn’t end when we transported the injured patients. From there they were triaged and assessed and treated and most had to go to other trauma centres.”

With respect to personal impact, Stefanik explained at the end of the day, all the emergency responders are just normal people and not programmed to deal with trauma after trauma, day in and day out.

“It will be a day that none of us ever forget but even just the amazing teamwork and support we received, that won’t be forgotten either,” she said.

Jessica Brost is an owner/operator with Northeast EMS and was among the paramedics called to the scene.

An established triage centre, set up on the outskirts of the community, allowed for quicker access to patients. While her partner assessed people on the ground, Brost went inside the ambulances on the scene and looked after the more serious cases.

“With trauma patients, there’s a lot to do in a short amount of time, so I was just helping them with IVs and putting on chest seals because there were a lot of stab wounds to torsos and you are worried about lungs being punctured,” she explained.

Like Stefanick, Brost was also involved in the response to the Broncos bus crash and said one of the lessons they learned from that incident, which assisted with the mass stabbings, was how to work together as a team but also to give staff at the waiting hospitals notice and time to prep.

“And so everyone kind of knew their role and how this would roll out,” she said.

In addition to thanking other medical personnel on scene, Brost also acknowledged the help and security provided by RCMP and conservation officers.

“The patients there didn’t know who attacked them, they didn’t know if there was one or two or three and we didn’t know if (the suspects) would come back for us,” she said.

Brost also acknowledged the work done by community members at JSCN, who she explained helped bring their friends, family and neighbours to the triage scene. And so while paramedics focused on the medical aspects, the community members provided emotional support.

“I can’t imagine what those patients were going through with the disbelief and just kind of the unknown,” Brost said.

The suspect in the attacks, Myles Sanderson, was captured three days later near Rosthern and died soon after while in police custody.

Over the weekend, JSCN is hosting a community powwow and during that, tributes are expected to be made to the victims. As of Friday, it was not clear if there will be an event on Monday to mark the one-year date.