Most of us have seen accidents on the road, but few of us have been up close enough to smell alcohol on the driver’s breath.
Firefighter/paramedic Andrew Chuckrey has been that close.
“I have absolutely smelled alcohol at collisions. I have seen very serious accidents as a result of alcohol. In St. Albert, it probably happens a couple of times a year,” Chuckrey said.
When called to such accidents, Chuckrey said, he must push aside any thoughts of blame. He must not think about what caused or didn't cause the collision to take place. Instead, his job is to deal with everyone as professionally and with as much compassion as possible.
“You don't treat people differently at the accident. You need to do things rapidly. You need to do your job,” he said.
If the collision has been severe, the Jaws of Life may be required to rip apart steel and extract people from vehicles. STARS Air Ambulance may be needed to transport the critically injured to hospital.
“Even if the driver was drunk out of his mind, he must be treated 100 per cent safely,” Chuckrey said.
But later, when his day's work is done, Chuckrey cannot always just go home and press on with life. The humanity stays with him.
“When I get home, that's when I may think, it sucks to be that human,” he said.
Not all collisions happen on nice dry roads in the centre of St. Albert and Chuckrey talked about the concern he feels for patients who have been in accidents on distant country roads. He talked about those accidents he has attended in the country for snowmobile or quad accidents where the patient had been drinking.
“If people are out in the country, maybe on a quad they flipped, it takes a long time to get them help. It can take 45 minutes to an hour response time. What if it's minus 30?” he asked.
Even with STARS Air Ambulance the response time may be prolonged, he said.
“People think they have a right to drive. Some take the right to drive for granted. But it isn't a right. It's a privilege. Before you crush yourself or your family, you need to think,” he said.
The catch is that the thinking needs to happen before the alcohol or drugs are consumed. If you wait until after a party to decide whether or not you are fit to drive, you may lose your own inhibitions and sense of right and wrong.
“That's where the planning needs to happen. If you are at a friend’s house for a few, you need to discuss it with your wife or partner or friend and ask each other, ‘How are we getting home?’ And you have to make that clear before you drink.”
His personal hope is that Don't Text and Drive campaigns will become as common as those that advise against drinking before taking the wheel of a vehicle.
“Drinking and not driving is in all the media. But accidents now caused by someone who was texting and driving can be just as serious. Those accidents are so prevalent now,” Chuckrey said.
Chuckrey is asked by emergency room physicians to photograph accident scenes so they have more information about how and where people have been injured. He dutifully takes those photos with his cellphone.
“Then immediately afterward I delete them. I don't want them on my cellphone. I do that so I can forget. But there are some calls you attend you never forget,” Chuckrey said.
Chuckrey refused to quibble about whether accidents should instead be called “collisions.”
“There are some accidents that are just that, maybe because someone hit black ice. But there is no excuse for a collision where someone has consumed drugs or alcohol and then got into a car and drove,” Chuckrey said.
