What started as a day with family at the Heritage Park museum in Calgary ended with a St. Albert mother breaking her leg after she says she was confronted by a staff member over mandatory masks, triggering a panic attack and a bad fall.
Calgary was the first city in Alberta to pass a bylaw mandating the use of face masks in public spaces, though Kirsty MacIntosh is exempt from wearing one due to several medical issues.
"It triggers almost a panic attack when I wear one – you feel very closed in," MacIntosh explained. She called ahead to make sure she would be allowed inside the museum with her two young daughters, husband and mother.
As the family entered the railway roadhouse building, a man working there told them to put masks on, which MacIntosh's mother and husband did. He then approached MacIntosh, who told him she was exempt. What happened next was "disgusting and discriminating," MacIntosh said."He basically told me he has to kick everyone out, I'm exposing everyone, he has to shut the place down because of me. I fired back and told him that's not the bylaw, I'm protected. You don't have to shut the place down," she said. "But he just wouldn't stop."
Her family members stepped in to defend her, but she said the staff member closed the doors and told another staff member an unmasked person was exposing everyone.
It made her feel "two feet small," she said, and she began to panic. That triggered a blackout as she was trying to get off the train, and she fell down its steep metal stairs.
"What I remember is basically hearing the crunch of my foot, the pain, and seeing my foot facing backwards," she said. "My mom was ahead of me with my oldest daughter. Thank God my husband was holding the baby."Sheena Fulton, MacIntosh's mother, said she didn't realize her daughter was having a panic attack because she was walking ahead of her with MacIntosh's two-year-old daughter. All of a sudden, she heard MacIntosh scream.
"The ankle looked weird, like in the movies; the ankle was turned the other way. I didn't want the two-year-old to see that," Fulton said.
Since she was busy trying to calm MacIntosh's daughter, she said she asked the staff member twice to call 911, who she said refused.
"I said, 'No, that's not right, I'm calling.' He told me twice not to call," she said. "I said, 'I don't care what you're telling me, I'm calling.'"Paramedics took MacIntosh to the hospital. Doctors told her she had broken her ankle in two spots and sprained her other ankle. She had surgery to stabilize her ankle with pins.
Even in those moments of pain, MacIntosh said all she could think about was how her children were handling what they had seen, and how she was going to nurse her three-month old daughter if she had to take pain medication.
A Heritage Park spokesperson told the Gazette in an email that the museum has been in direct communication with the family in question twice since Aug. 12, once on the day after the incident and again on Aug. 14.
"This matter is now in the hands of the insurer, who has continued communication with the family," the statement read.
Heritage Park declined to provide further comment on the incident. The City of Calgary did not respond for requests for comment before press deadline.
'I'm not asking for much'
MacIntosh's family is now on the hook for medical expenses. She refused pain medication so she could continue nursing her daughter, and the St. Albert Legion also stepped up to lend her a wheelchair for free. However, the cost of a walker, bath seat and knee scooter adds up to an estimated $554 for at least six weeks. That doesn't include the costs for rehabilitation, counselling, blood thinning medication or crutches.
With her husband working full-time, Fulton put her life on pause to help MacIntosh take care of her young children while she recovers. Her oldest daughter is traumatized from the incident, and wakes up more often during the night now, she said.
MacIntosh's own anxiety and mental health has worsened since the injury.
"Yesterday, my daughter had an eye specialist appointment, and they told me I had to wear a mask. I couldn't even wear it for a minute without having a major meltdown panic attack."
When the family called Heritage Park about the incident, MacIntosh said the person on the other end of the line told them he would forward their concern to the park's legal department, and told them to take the issue up with the City of Calgary. They called the City of Calgary, who sent them a form to submit a claim.
"I'm not asking for much. All I want is an apology and maybe help with some of the medical expenses," MacIntosh said.
