Linda and I were in South Africa when we learned with horror about the unbelievably tragic events that have unfolded in our beautiful community. While the physical distance between us makes grieving our shared loss more difficult, our hearts are back with all of you in Tumbler Ridge.
There were countless acts of heroism. The heroic acts of educators, students, RCMP, Fire Department, BCEHS and others, all putting their lives on the line, provide an incredible example of courage and dedication. It is good to see that these acts have been widely acknowledged.
There has been such a groundswell of genuine support and love from across Canada and the world (this was headline news in South Africa). There have been many thousands of such messages from people and groups with empathy, who want to share their sorrow and offer assistance of some kind. Tragedies like this sometimes bring out the best in us, and Canada is a shining example of this kind of caring.
There are also the heartfelt responses of Canada’s politicians and community leaders. These have been important in promoting unity, and give us comfort and strength as we grieve.
As a physician who worked in Tumbler Ridge for around thirty years, I also want to pay tribute to the heroism of my physician colleagues and their fellow medical professionals. For years we have been doing disaster-preparedness exercises, hoping and praying that the disaster will never come and that we will never have to use those skills. And the disaster never comes… until one day it suddenly does.
This is every medical professional’s worst nightmare, and the nightmare is often more intense in a small, remote community without immediate back-up. One moment all is peaceful, and the next moment all is chaotic, ‘all hands on deck’, working as a team to save lives and minimize suffering, stabilizing the critically ill and arranging for medivacs so that the injured can get the timely access to the care that they desperately need. The so-called ‘golden hour’ becomes vital, and the speed with which the RCMP responded in this case presumably contributed to the ability to rapidly stabilise the conditions of the injured and enable medivacs.
I know what outstanding care my medical colleagues and the whole team provided, and I am immensely grateful for what they did. I know of at least one physician in a neighbouring community who immediately upon hearing the news dropped everything and raced to Tumbler Ridge to be of assistance. Yet another act of heroism. The subsequent provision of counselling services is so important, and it is gratifying to see how seriously this has been taken.
We can all note that the ER was open, and that we still have three doctors in town with ER skills. Our roads and highways were passable and there was no winter storm to interfere with air evacuation. Even in our darkest hour, there are still things to be grateful for.
None of this provides any solace to those who have lost loved ones. And to be clear, there is probably nothing in life more dire and heart-achingly unbearable than losing one’s child or one’s loved one too early. To all those most deeply affected, we say simply that there are no words that can properly express how we feel for you.
In the longer term, the resiliency that has characterised us in the past will triumph again. We may have lost our innocence in which we naively thought that such an atrocity could never happen here, but I think we may become known as the community that countered unspeakable adversity with dignified love and compassion. And I hope that we will set an example to be emulated by any other community that is unfortunate enough to experience a similar tragedy.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
