August 4, 2022 • 37 mins
Agriculture ranks among the most hazardous industries in the world. Reducing farm-related deaths and life-changing accidents has to be a priority for us all. This episode features Austin Gellings from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers and Darcy McKay, a critical care paramedic at STARS. They discuss common farm accidents and how to prevent them. We also hear from Adair O'Grady, who shares the harrowing tale of his farm-related accident.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hello, and welcome to another edition of Topcon talks,
agriculture.
My name is Dave or, and I am thebusiness development manager for
Topcon.
Today.
We are discussing a topic thatis involved in every farm.
It's not necessarily alwaysdiscussed around the separate
table, but certainly in the backof minds of every individual
working on the farm today, we'rediscussing the common farm
accidents for fatalities in thefield, how to prevent them and
(00:36):
what to do in the event of anaccident.
Farm safety is not a new topic,but we still see tragedies that
are permanently disabled orwreck havoc on the farming
business.
And we need to understand how wecan protect our families, our
neighbors, our relatives, andemployees alike today.
To help me discuss this topic.
We have Austin yellings, thedirector of agricultural
services at AEM.
(00:57):
Austin will help us explain howAEM can play an important role
in the safety and productleadership on the farm.
They support safety awarenessyear round by offering an array
of safety products, manuals, andvideos.
Also joining us today is DarcyMcKay, the provincial director
and critical care paramedic atStar's area ambulance today,
(01:18):
Darcy's going to help us explainhow first responders are trained
for farm emergency responses andunderstand the complexities of
rescuing patients in achallenging and remote location.
A little bit later on in thepodcast, we're gonna have ADA O
Grady join us.
Adair has an experience of afarm accident where stars air
ambulance came to his rescue onthe farm.
(01:38):
CDC ranks agriculture as one ofthe most hazardous industries,
farmers that are a very highrisk of fatal and non-fatal
industries.
And farming is one of the fewindustries where family members
are at the same risk as eachother.
Austin.
What makes agriculture industryso dangerous?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well, I think a lot of it has to do with the
unpredictability of it all.
You know, farmers work in a fastpaced environment where their
day is influenced by so manyfactors that are outside of
their control.
Um, whether that be weather,things of that nature, this
leads to increased pressure onthem in situations where they're
already having to make splitsecond decisions, especially
(02:16):
when a situation begins goingsouth, pairing this with the
fact that they're constantlyworking with either
unpredictable animals, a movingmachinery, um, and that nature,
it creates a what can sometimesbe a, a dangerous combination.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Right?
And, and I guess in yourexperience in dealing with the
safety side of this, um, you've,you've probably heard some
survivor stories or statistics.
What are the most commoninjuries?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Some of the most common accidents though, you
know, include things likerollovers incidents with grain
bins or even manure pits when itcomes to things like
asphyxiation, moving machinerydown, rural roads, or sometimes
not even rural roads.
Um, but that interaction withother other vehicles and, and
people who may not be asfamiliar with being around farm
(03:03):
machinery accidents withchemical handling or just things
like that,
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Maybe you could define for us exactly what AEM
considers a farm accident,because from my knowledge of
farm accident, as any time thatsomebody has put in danger on
the farm, you know, spillingchemical and, and having a skin
burn, we might not think of thatas a farm hazardous accident,
because a lot of times we gowash that off or we go do the
proper treatment ourselves.
Right.
And so, so how do you guystruthfully define a farm
(03:32):
accident on the farm?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
I think, I think that's just it, I, I think, you
know, there are lots ofaccidents that happen on the
farm that we don't necessarilythink of an accident because we,
they happen and we, we take careof them and we move on.
Right.
It doesn't really disrupt ourday too much, but it's re it's
really just that any, anydisruption or, or instance that
wasn't supposed to happen,wasn't planned something as
(03:54):
simple as, as a spill, we cleanit up, we move on, or sometimes
it's much larger than that.
Um, and then there's actualactual injury and intervention
involved.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Could you give us a little bit of insight on what
AEM offers to farmers duringthese, uh, training periods?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah.
Uh, AEM puts together a numberof materials, whether that be
safety manuals, training videos,um, really to do just that, you
know, teach farmers, um,especially from the equipment
standpoint, what, what are thethings that we should be doing?
And I think that that's onething farmers are fairly good at
is most farmers know what theyshould do, but in the moment
(04:29):
when we have all these differentthings going on in the pressure
of the day on us, whether it'strying to beat rain or getting,
getting the crop off, or you'redealing with animals sometimes
what we should do and what weneed to do don't necessarily
match up and we focus more onwhat we need to do rather than
what we should do.
Um, so really it's just aboutthat.
Putting materials out there tokeep that what we should do
(04:51):
message top of mind and reallyingrain it in our minds through
different types of training, um,and repetition and things like
that.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I, is there any statistics that you might have
seen or collected that wouldlead us to understand when we're
more susceptible to farmaccidents?
You obviously say during highpressure times, but is it more
common at the end of the day, oris it more common, you know,
right in the middle of harvestnecessarily.
Um, is there any, you know, kindof statistic that really shows
that farmers and maybe eventheir support system on the farm
(05:21):
can be aware of that it's a,it's a time of the year or it's
a, it's a day of the week thatit's maybe a little bit more
important to exercise all theprecautions.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I, I don't have any hard numbers off, off the top of
my head, but from studies saidI've seen in the past and things
like that, I think it playsright into what you would
expect.
Right.
Um, whether it's towards the endof the day or middle of harvest,
you know, what, when you, whenyou've had the, the pressure of
the day kind of wear you down alittle bit and you've gone
through all your tasks and it's,it's just fatigue and you're en
(05:51):
crunch time and just wanting toget something done.
That's really when it's mostimportant to try to keep those
messages top of mind, becausethat's when we take the
shortcuts to just get thingsdone, right.
We, we have to get it off beforeit rains.
Um, we, you know, we're, we'renearing the end of the season
type of type of thing.
We've, we've gotta, we've gottamake sure that we're keeping
those what we should do top ofmind.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Right.
And as we, you know, get intothose situations, um, and we're
relying on our own intuition totell us to slow down and take a
breath, how do we convinceourselves that the crop isn't
worth it to take it off in themorning?
I know that we're gonna hearfrom a, a, a story a little bit
from now, um, from our friend todare that that should really
(06:33):
resonate home on when to maybeslow down or not do that next
thing.
But how do we keep that in thefront of mind?
It's easy to prepare to keep itthere, but how do we actually
keep it there?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Well, I think it's just reminding ourselves at the
end of the day that whether weget the crop off at this exact
moment or not, it's, it's gonnabe there tomorrow.
Right.
And so it's not worth rushingwith the potential chance to
lose something that we can't getback.
I, you know, a fatal instance,for example, you know, that's,
(07:02):
that's the end of the road thatcrop will still be there.
Uh, you know, it's just takingthat time to slow down and
remember what's important sothat we can take those steps to,
to make sure that we're doingwhat we need to do.
And oftentimes, you know, beingprepared, you know, the minute,
the time that it takes to beprepared while, and it may only
save you a couple seconds on theback end because you're
(07:23):
prepared, you know, what youshould do.
Um, those couple seconds can bethe difference sometimes between
life and death, and it canreally make that difference.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
There's other things that have come into the farming
industry over the past few yearsthat certainly should help farm
accents.
You know, one of them probablyis the industry I work in with
Topcon that's precisionagriculture.
Have you been able to seeanything that correlates to farm
injuries going down because of,um, automation or precision
agriculture?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Well, I know that there are, are some, certainly
some studies out there that takea look at some, uh, you know,
instances of fatigue or stress,right?
And, and that's oftentimes whatcorrelates then to more of these
in injuries when we're fatiguedand want to get the job done, or
when there's high levels ofstress.
And we're making, having to makethese split second decisions
that oftentimes can be thedifference between everything
(08:08):
going smoothly or, or having anaccident.
And O autonomy helps to reduceall of those things, right?
It takes away these tedioustasks that sometimes can, can
wear us down a little bit, or ithelps, uh, you know, just
completely eliminate what could,what could be a dangerous
decision if it's, if it's notmade correctly.
Um, and so it's all about justmaking, you know, the day easier
(08:30):
for the farmer so that theydon't have to make as many of
these stressful decisions.
And it helps, helps lower thatand makes the day a little bit
easier for them at, at the endof the day, taking them out of
those harmful, dangeroussituations.
Hopefully there's differentlevels of, of, of autonomy too,
right?
You, you can have an, you know,semi-autonomous piece something,
(08:50):
you know, I think of like, boom,height control and sprayers that
takes that stress away from the,from the applicator.
So they don't have to worryabout that.
Or you can have a completelyautonomous machine where now you
don't have to do that task.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Children who live on the farm are at the greatest
risk of injury or death on thefarm.
How can you help a farmerchildproof potentially hazardous
areas on the farm or, or, orhelp those discussions on the
farm with young children?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
I, I think it's really, it really starts with,
you know, it's a, it's atwofold, twofold answer, right?
Number one, it starts with justmaking sure that, you know, you,
as you, as the farmer, the farmworker, you know, you know, what
you should be doing.
And, and you're doing that,whether that's, you know, if you
look at, you know, locking upchemicals or just being aware of
the child's location at alltimes, um, making sure that
(09:37):
they're not around running andmoving machinery or, or things
like that.
Um, but then number two, youknow, it's taking the time to
make sure that children areaware of what they should be
doing as well.
I grew up on a farm, my familystill farms.
And it was said to me so manytimes that I was probably
repeating it on my sleep attimes to not go near moving
machinery, or if I had to workon a piece of machinery, make
(09:58):
sure everything was shut off.
And it's just making sure thatthat messaging, um, is
ingrained, you know, in theirminds so that they know cuz you
know, as a child, you see a bigpiece of machinery and it's
fascinating, right?
You want to go see it, touch it,be around it.
But if it's on and operatingthat's, that's not a good thing.
And so it's ingraining thosetypes of messages, um, in their
mind so that they know whenthey, when they engage with a
(10:20):
piece of machinery, how theyshould act, how to engage with
it, to hopefully avoid anyaccidents.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
And I guess that comes right from a young age,
right.
You know, right.
When you're three watching yourdad cut the lawn all the way up,
every piece of machinery thatcomes into the yard, getting
familiar with it andunderstanding the potentially
dangerous things and where to goin the, in the shop and where
not to go because of chemicalstorage or, or what it might be
in am you guys believe that farmemergency plans are a vital
(10:45):
thing that needs to be on thefarm.
Can you please explain, uh, whatshould be included in the farm
emergency plan and why they arestill vital?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Well, it's, it all goes back to, you know, the
overall messaging of all thisright?
Making sure we're prepared,making sure in the moment, if
something happens, we know whatto do.
And that's really the purpose ofa farm emergency plan.
It lays out, you know, indifferent instances, you know,
what should you do?
Who should you call?
And, and it really prepares youfor how you, how to engage in
that moment.
(11:13):
And it just goes back topreparation then at that point,
right?
Making sure we know what thefarm emergency plan is.
So that in the moment we're not,you know, we're not wasting any
time we're getting right toaction doing what needs to be
done.
Cuz as I mentioned earlier, youknow, being prepared while it
may take a little bit of time,it can Le oftentimes lead to
saving those seconds.
That can be mean the differencebetween life and death.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Is there a fair amount of air ambulances
services that are readilyavailable to many jurisdictions
throughout the United States?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
As in my area, um, here in Southeastern Wisconsin
and other areas, I I've been, it, it tends to be fairly common,
right?
As, I mean when, especially whenyou're in a rural area, that's
the that's, that's oftentimesthe, the quickest and most safe
way.
It it's just a level of comfort.
Right.
You know, one of when you're outin a tractor and you're in this,
you know, oftentimes you're notthinking about, you know, what
(12:05):
the worst case scenario couldbe, but that thought does creep
into your mind.
And it's comforting to know thatin that instance, you know, even
though you're in the middle of afield, sometimes in the middle
of nowhere, that there is stillan option to make sure that if
worst case scenario happens,there's a level of comfort
there, knowing that there issomebody there that can be
timely in helping, helping getyou then to help you need.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Awesome.
Thank you very much for yourtime.
Thank you for the information.
Thank you for sharing us, uh,how AEM, uh, views these
accidents and incidences and,and how they help prevent them
and the ongoing work that you'redoing on behalf of all of the
agriculture industry.
Thank you for, for promotingfarm safety.
And thank you for being anambassador of farm safety as
mentioned EMSS and other rescuepersonnel are called the farms
(12:49):
and ranches relativelyinfrequently.
However, when they are cold,it's often includes a complex
situation.
These situations range fromwhere to land or what the actual
medical situation could be.
EMS providers may need to travelfarther, navigate difficult
terrains and enter dangerousspaces or fight adverse weather
conditions.
When responding to calls,joining us today, to talk more
(13:11):
about how EMS is respond and thedifficulty things that they go
through is Darcy McKay.
Who's a provincial director andcritical care paramedic for
stars, air ambulance here inSaskatchewan, Darcy.
Thanks again for joining us.
And why don't you take a littlebit of time to tell us about
yourself and also about stars,air ambulance?
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Well, thanks Dave.
So I've been a critical careparamedic in the EMS industry,
probably just over 30 years now.
And I currently work for starerambulance.
It's an acronym.
It stands for shock trauma airrescue service.
And it actually started inCalgary back in 1985 and it's
kind of cascaded across theprice.
And for those in the states,that's, uh, Alberta,
Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and wehave a huge agriculture
(13:50):
component in all threeprovinces, whether it be farming
or ranching.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Talk me through the process, what happens from the
beginning of the call and thenkind of through the whole
process of the flight,
Speaker 3 (14:00):
For sure.
Um, so it depends how the callcomes in.
It can come directly from 9 1 1,or it can come in through our
emergency link center.
So that's the dispatch center weuse.
So what you and Austin weretalking about, um, in your farm
emergency plan is knowing yourland location.
Uh, it'll allow us to get to youquicker if you don't know your
land location, uh, get, uh, yourfamily and yourself, um, the
(14:22):
awareness of how to pick up yourGPS coordinates off your phone.
We have fantastic technologynowadays.
Um, pull up your GPS.
We can plug that into thecomputer in the helicopter and
fly directly to you.
I I've done it a number of time.
It works slick and of courseyou're getting that much needed
care to that patient quicker.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Right?
And so after you've, you've kindof triaged, um, what exactly is
happening and where you need togo to pilots, get into the, into
the helicopter and paramedicsalike and, and you kind of push
all the hanger and take off.
Correct?
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Correct.
And, and then it's all aboutgetting information.
So is there chemicals on site?
What type of machinery, how manypatients, what the actual, um,
problem is?
Sometimes it can just be, uh,you know, somebody's having a
cardiac event, like a heartattack and they're driving their
combine and are calling us inthe middle of nowhere.
Um, so as you and Austin alreadywent into it, farm emergencies,
there's all different types ofscope.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Are you collecting that data well on board?
Um, I guess from the time of 91, 1 in taking that call, what's
just kind of the, the, the, thetime between, um, triaging that
call and, and getting off theground.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Yeah, the beauty of it is, is our dispatch center.
Uh, the emergency link centeractually gathers all information
and continues throughout thecall.
Um, you know, what resources areavailable, the, the nearest fire
department, the nearest groundambulance.
Um, is there, are we going toneed different resources?
Like you already suggested hydroor power to shut off, uh, the
electrical like grid nearby?
(15:48):
Um, so we take all that intoaccount and then what chemicals
were on scene?
Um, of course we can land upwind and the pilot always do a
nice little of the area just tomake sure everybody's safe and,
and nobody else gets hurt.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
And that's, uh, you know, very crucial things to
know.
And I guess it's also crucial tobe known.
One about the own farm is if,uh, you know, somebody that's
maybe not involved in the farmoperation still needs to know
what's on the scene.
Um, because if they aren't theknowledge keeper and it's a
knowledge keeper that is in needof medical attention, they still
need to be able to provide thatvaluable information.
(16:19):
Um, like you said, even justland locations, but the
chemicals, or if there's hydroclose by or any of those things,
to make sure that, um, we'resaving time, because I would
imagine that having thatknowledge is actually going to
save time, um, in being able toget the helicopter down onto the
ground faster than having to tryand navigate through those
things yourselves from the sky.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Yeah, exactly.
Dave, you know, quickness andthen again, safety for
everybody.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
What specific on-farm resources or manpower and tools
do you use to rescue farmers andto protect your people?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
So the biggest thing we use at stars is education
more than anything.
So training awareness, you know,we're dealing with exercise,
herbicide, fertilizer, how toshut off a power takeoff, like
stuff like that is just vitalimportant.
It seems so simple, but it's soimportant.
How do you shut off a piece ofmachinery and then what
resources are available thatwill need, because some of these
pieces of equipment, they're,they're almost like built like a
(17:13):
tank and, you know, so how doyou get in if somebody needs to
be extricated, the properresources that are needed to,
uh, to, uh, get to that patient
Speaker 1 (17:20):
And, and does in your situation with stars, do you
guys fly with tools such as jawsof life to be able to operate
those things?
Or are you relying on groundemergency crews to help you with
that?
Speaker 3 (17:30):
We rely on ground.
Uh, so it's kind of like a smallvillage to get to that patient.
So we don't carry the jaws justcuz of the weight, but, uh, we
use would use the ground firedepartments.
What we do carry though is likethe antidotes of, uh, some of
the chemicals that are, uh, usedin farming.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
You guys do a lot of training about how, um, people
on the, the ground can properlyassist air ambulances in, in
landing creating a safe spacefor communities.
And that's known as, you know,the landing spot if, if needed.
And, and, and that's probablyalso something that could be
part of an emergency plan.
Um, if something happens on thefarm, where would we suggest
Star's air, ambulance land,correct?
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Yeah.
So, uh, the helicopter meansabout 30 meters by 30 million.
I ideally flat.
And if there's one thing thatthe prairies have, it's, it's a
lot of flat land, so, uh, um,but yeah, basically it's safe.
We can land on a road to it.
There's just risks every time,but ideally you wanna get as cl
and, uh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna,the closer you can get to the
patient, the better, the less Ihave to walk.
I'm just saying that as a jokeobviously, but, uh, closer you
(18:29):
can land the better.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
What are some challenges you encounter during
an ag related, uh, mission?
Speaker 3 (18:35):
The big thing again is just isolation, like, uh, to
get to that patient.
If they're not most farms in, inthree promises I work in is
they're huge.
So they could be somewhere onthe farm.
We don't know that's whatimportant to know the GPS
location, but just getting theresources that you need to the
patient.
Uh, if it's required, just likefor extrication, um, it, it can
(18:57):
be difficult sometimes, but, um,that's the beauty of the
helicopter as well.
You get the land right besidethe, the patient.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
And I guess it's also important to note that, you
know, land descriptions probablyalso in the field that you're
working on throughout theMidwest of America, and then up
into the prairies, we're on somepretty large farms, um, in the
line location of the home yardsite could be a few miles away.
And if you're circling around a,a homestead and the farmer is
out in the north 40 or whateveryou want to call it, that could
(19:23):
be quite a ways away that youmight not just see right away
from the air also.
Right.
So it's important to know whereeverybody on the farm is at all
times and, and good landlocations for that too.
Correct?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Exactly.
Dave.
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
So what does farm rescue and response training
look like?
Um, for, for you guys?
I know you, you offer some, youknow, you talked about how you
guys internally train and thetools that you guys use of how
to, you know, help shut downequipment once you arrive on
scene or, or be able to navigatethrough that.
But do you guys do any trainingsfor farmers and, and the
agricultural industry you like?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Yeah, well, we, we work in, uh, combination with,
with farmers as well.
And, and like I said, groundambulance, uh, police, uh, fire
it, like it takes a village to,uh, you know, get to that
patients
Speaker 1 (20:06):
From there, from once the patient is in, it's just a
straight B-line back to thelocal, to the closest hospital
with the helicopter pad, um, ora closest landing spot to a, to
get the patient to the medicalattention they need.
Correct.
Well,
Speaker 3 (20:18):
We'll, uh, stabilize the patients in, in the air, so
to speak and take that patientprobably depending on what they
need.
Like, um, if it's trauma related, we'll take'em to a trauma
center.
If it's, uh, let's say it's aheart attack.
That's, like I said, saidpreviously, someone, one in a
combine combine will get them toa cath lab.
So it all depends on the type ofverge.
If somebody's having a stroke,there's, uh, various types of,
(20:39):
uh, accidents and injuries thatcan happen on, uh, on the, uh,
farm, unfortunately, a lot aretrauma related.
So we probably go to a traumacenter, uh, for the majority of
our, uh, patients and, uh,hopefully get them to the, uh,
operating table soon.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
So board of a star air ambulance, what, what
traditionally is there forpersonnel, um, to help on this
mission?
So
Speaker 3 (20:59):
We always fly with two pilots.
Uh, one's the, uh, pilot andcommand the others, the safety
officers, just to making surethe helicopter and the, uh,
scene is safe.
And then we fly a nurseparamedic combo.
They kind of come from eachother and we also have the
option of reading a transportphysician, uh, along, and they
can, uh, help assist, uh, onseek as well if need be.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
And then does a, you know, a stars helicopter, um, is
that outfitted very similar towhat we believe a ground
transportation, ambulance wouldhave for, um, tools and
abilities to stabilize apatient?
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Yeah, they, they have some of the same tools as well.
Um, uh, they have a couple ofmore skills that they can
perform and as well, they have afew more medications they can
administer.
Um, we also carry blood on board, which is kind of a game
changer for trauma, uh, relatedinjuries.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Interesting.
And, and so, in, in closing,what do you believe every farmer
could do to prevent theseinjuries?
I know that Austin and I had agreat dialogue on, on making
sure that you understand yourbasically your surroundings,
whether it's a stress level orit's a power post internal,
external surroundings, what,what do you believe could help
prevent accidents like this on adaily basis?
Speaker 3 (22:07):
I think you and Austin actually kind of nailed
it.
Take your time.
I know in farming when you havethe opportunity to make hay, so
to speak, you make hay, you go,and so don't rush.
And then I have a good plan.
Know your land location.
If I could get one thing acrossis know your land location, and
know how to pull up your GPS onyour phone.
You know, if, if you can havethe option of always farm with a
buddy, uh, meaning somebody tohave, or at least if you don't
(22:30):
have that, have them check up onyou.
It's so easy to either talk on a, like a walkie talkie, CV,
radio, text message phone everyhour, just to check in on you
just to see how you're doing andmake sure everything's okay.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Right.
And I, I know I asked Austinthis about, he has a little bit
larger breath of, of ground tocover.
And he said, he, he said that toair ambulance services are quite
frequent.
And I know in, in doing someresearch that a lot of air
ambulances are saying the exactsame thing know where you are
once the accident happens,there's nothing you can do to
uneven that.
So just know where you are andthat's, that's the next best
thing for you.
(23:02):
So, you know, we'll certainly beadvocates in helping you hound
that one home.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Thanks, Dave, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Today.
You've brought a very specialperson to help explain farm
accidents.
You know, maybe be an advocatefor slowing down, taking that
extra, extra breath or second,why don't you help us, uh,
introduce a dare.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Yeah, so we call our, uh, patients who we have flown,
uh, VIPs.
That's a very important patient.
And, and to me, I could tell thetale, uh, but I think it's so
much more powerful hearing itfrom the patient or patient
family, uh, themselves.
So, uh, yeah, I, uh, present toyou, uh, Dar Grady.
Who's gonna tell you his story.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Awesome.
Thanks Darcy.
Thank you so much Adaire forjoining us today.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
Thanks Dave, for having me and allowing me to
share my story and thanks Darcyfor the introduction.
Appreciate the stars team.
I'll let you guys do great,great group of people.
So my story, I guess, startsback in 2015 on the farm.
It was a regular spring day.
We had just recently purchased anew air Cedar and, uh, my dad
(24:05):
and myself were working throughtrying to get it set up.
It was a fairly warm day.
We were trying, working throughsome electronics, trying to get
alarms to work, gettingeverything dialed in the typical
scenario of getting everythingrolling and feeling some
pressure to get seating as welltoo is time is marching along.
(24:27):
Um, I farm for 20 actuallylonger than 20 years, probably
30 years of my life for this.
And I've always worked with mydad and the scenario played out
where we had sought the air ofCedar.
We were just getting ready forsupper was probably about 6:00
PM.
And, uh, just double checking tomake sure that everything was
(24:48):
good to go.
Like most farmers, you arechecking the depth of your seat
to make sure that it's in themoisture and not too deep.
And I was down on the ground.
We had parked the air Cedar upon, uh, the edge of a hill.
I had stopped mid pass and, uh,my father actually had pulled up
and we were just double checkingit and just talking through next
(25:10):
steps of the evening andshutting it down for supper just
to go eat and then get thingsrolling.
And as, uh, I was checking thedepth, um, and we had decided to
go in and decided to move overjust one more Passover, one more
furrow over, just in the sea rowjust to make sure everything was
perfect.
(25:31):
And, and you know, like so manytimes in farming, because you've
worked with the person so long,you just know each other.
A lot of times you find that youdon't even need to communicate.
They just know you where you'regonna be.
At that moment.
My dad actually jumped into thetruck, had talked to just had
(25:51):
phone back to the farm and said,Hey, we're coming in for supper.
Um, looked around and thoughtthe coast was clear.
He was on the edge of the hillas well, too.
And, uh, looked over and thoughtthat I was already back at the
tractor simple mistake.
At that time, he decided that hewas going to, um, drive ahead
(26:12):
and out of the field.
And at that moment, I wasprobably about eight feet in
front of the truck.
And, uh, look back and realizedas he was moving forward.
I'm like, he does not see me.
And like any accident, ithappens quick.
It's not, not something that youcan ever prepare for.
And you have multiple seconds tothink through so many scenarios
(26:35):
at that moment, I decided itwould be best to try to roll out
of the way, because it was downon my hands and knees close to
the ground.
As I tried to do that, it waslike within a matter of seconds
in the front wheel of our, um,one 10 service truck was up on
my chest.
The tire came up my arm acrossmy chest and, and stopped just
(26:56):
shy.
There was actually tread markson my chest and on my chin at
that moment, my dad stopped andsaid, well, that's weird.
There's no rocks in the field.
And then it hit him that I wasunder the truck.
So a lot of things happenedreally quick after that moment,
like any, um, accident oremergency.
(27:16):
And you're in shock as the truckwas on me.
Uh, the last thing I rememberwas passing out and, uh, and I
couldn't breathe.
Um, my world kind of went reallydark.
My dad backed off of me andimmediately got outta the truck
and got a hold of 9 1 1 andsaid, Hey, we have an emergency,
(27:39):
which dispatched the local EMSgroup that we have out here,
which is in rural areas.
It is the first step in thewhole critical care process,
which leads to stars.
It was a matter of minutes.
They dispatched from a localtown.
That's close to us and proceededout to, um, the location as to
where I was at.
(27:59):
And, uh, and immediately startedlooking after me at that time.
They didn't know what all waswrong, but for me, I wasn't able
to see for a period of time,just from the pressure of, of
the vehicle driving up on me, myvitals were dropping and, uh, I
was really struggling to breathe, not knowing what was gonna
happen at that moment.
(28:20):
I think they decided that thiswas serious.
We needed to do something quickand it probably included stars.
So at some point in time, theirstars was contacted.
And I think originally they wereset up flares out in the field
for the helicopter, but becausemy oxygen level and my ability
to breathe was so low.
They decided it was wise to putplace me in the ambulance and,
(28:43):
uh, proceed with travelingtowards Saskatoon to meet stars
and, uh, and just mitigate thetime that it took to get me to
critical care.
My wife was called at the sametime.
And she came out to the field,along with the kids.
And again, lots of things arehappening.
(29:03):
They told her she couldn't jumpin the ambulance, but she
proceeded do she, wasn't gonnaleave my side and, uh, traveled
with me in the ambulance to gomeet the stars team.
It was probably about a half anhour away that they, they met
stars.
So that tells you how quickstars is coming from two and a
half hours away.
They were, they were already upin the air and moving and met
(29:26):
them quickly.
They landed and chose a placeto, to meet at that was that
worked well and, uh, proceededto quickly move me outta the,
um, ambulance and into thehelicopter.
My wife being in shock had tosay goodbye to me.
(29:46):
There's always sometimesemotional parts when you tell a
story.
So for my wife having to saygoodbye, um, no knowing if that
was the last time she was gonnasee me, it was, it was tough.
There was hoping that though,too, um, Jenny was the flight
(30:09):
nurse that, uh, was with me thatday and she took my wife's
number down and, uh, encouragedher and, uh, proceeded to text
her, um, just as we traveledinto the university hospital in,
um, Saskatoon for Mely.
I didn't know if I was gonnasurvive.
(30:32):
I didn't know what the endlooked like, cuz it was a bit
scary.
Um, they took me to the U U OFShospital in Saskatoon where I
was placed into critical carethere.
My incident included six brokenribs, um, a broken collarbone
included, uh, um, a collapsedlung bleeding around my heart.
(30:55):
Um, my eyes because of thepressure had, were protruding
and I wasn't able to see for aperiod of time.
So I had issues with vision aswell too.
And I, I guess to the entirejourney, I can say thank you
enough to the people that werethere by my side, like any
accident, things happen quickly.
(31:17):
And, uh, you just never know.
It's not something you can youexpect.
But through this, through thisepisode, we've talked about a
lot of ways to prepare a lot ofthings that we can do.
I think it's good to be out infront of farmers and have these
discussions because life getsbusy.
We all, we all have that,whether it's it's in harvest or
(31:40):
seating or whether it's on aperson getting prepared to get
away for a long weekend where wesee incidents and accidents
heightened too.
I think it's important for allof us to be reminded and, and to
do these things, to makeawareness and to just get out in
front of farmers and have thosethose discussions.
So that's my story of thejourney I've been on and this
(32:02):
story doesn't end there.
I've had the great opportunityto, to come through this and I'm
a hundred percent on the otherside, I had great help.
Um, I've had the opportunity tomeet the stars at the stars,
base the team there, um, andhave built a great relationship
with them.
I've been able to help in a verysmall way, helping with
different functions and eventsand, uh, things that they do and
(32:25):
including this podcast that youguys are putting together as
well too.
So I appreciate the opportunityas a person that's gone through
an incident and being able toshare my story and, and just
help other people out tohopefully prevent something like
this from happening again in thefuture.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Uh, dare I, I can't, um, express enough gratitude to
you for, for joining us todayand, and sharing that story.
You know, sometimes thesestories are the best way to
educate people, to put intoperspective, um, what you had to
go through.
It's absolutely amazing thattoday you are where you are and
you're a hundred percent on theother side, as you said.
So that is a truly remarkablething.
(33:06):
And it's, it's such a, afascinating thing to know that
it was because of the, the workof the emergency people.
It might not just be theirambulance services, but it's
also the ground people and theground ambulance, but it
certainly is gotta be reassuringto know that if something does
happen again, those people arestill three digits away from
(33:29):
that all trickling down intoaction.
It's not, you know, things thatyou have to take on yourself.
It's, it's one phone call foryour dad or, or for that person
that's helping the situation,right?
So accidents are gonna happen,right?
And, and, and we're lucky tohave you here today to tell us
about your accident and, andwhat we can learn from it.
But, you know, the common themeseems to be, make sure you slow
(33:50):
down.
You take that extra breath and,and you know, the crops are
gonna be there or the livestockwill be there, right?
You have a lot of fellow workersin the egg industry.
What would you say could, couldchange the way that something
happens on the farm?
Speaker 4 (34:04):
You know, um, you guys have resonated on a lot of
great things and, and I, I am insimilar as well as that, that
take time to communicate.
Communication's critical inanything.
Sometimes we get moving too fastand don't take the time, take
time to just double check.
Um, a double check at any pointin time can save a life.
(34:26):
Um, after I was run over, I wasdoing some research on, um,
number of incidents of peoplebeing run over.
And I think in the number wasclose to 12 people in America
per date were run over.
And I guess that's what leads tobackup cameras as well, too.
But as life is busy, we don'ttake the time to double check
(34:47):
and then just making eyecontact.
If you're working with somebody,it's one of the things we sat
down with after the accident andsaid, Hey, you know what need to
communicate if we're gonna beworking near each other and just
loud noises and you can'tcommunicate verbally, verbally,
you need to be able to make eyecontact with that person.
So they understand that you'reaware of them and what they're
(35:08):
doing and give them a thumbs up,right.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
And using the machinery for the right job.
And the way it's meant to beused also is crucial.
Absolutely crucial.
Speaker 4 (35:17):
And don't assume that you're, that it'll never happen
to you.
Um, I think in our mind, at somepoint in time, we all have that
thought that it's not, it can'tbe me.
It, you know, I I'm safe.
I do everything right, but itcan happen to anybody.
I, I just want to thank Dave and, uh, Topcon for just
identifying the need for farmsafety and making awareness and,
(35:41):
and taking the time to put thistogether, to be able to provide
it to farmers and, and, uh,people out there to be able to
be aware of this.
So I appreciate that.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
No, it's the least we could do.
It's, uh, it's a greatinitiative that I know is, you
know, mentioned several times onthis call.
It's near and dear to the heartsof a lot of people in
agriculture is farm safety.
For sure.
It's important to continuouslystay vigilant about safety rules
and equipment and train everyoneon your team.
Topcon encourages everyone tomake a safety, a priority, keep
(36:13):
yourself, and those who workwith you protected from
incidents by doing things likehaving a farm emergency plan and
knowing your land location.
Once again, I'd really like tothank our, our guests today,
Austin Geer from AEM.
Um, your insight on farm safetywas absolutely unbelievable.
Darcy, thank you for taking thetime to explain to us exactly
what a near ambulance servicecan do, how they operate and how
(36:35):
they work, um, to ensure thatmissions go seamlessly, but also
the end goal of, of making surethat patient is, is taken care
of and a dare once again, cannotthank you enough for, for
sharing your powerful story withus, allowing us to come into
probably, you know, a little bitmore of a personal matter with
you and, and opening up to usand, and helping promote farm
safety through something that wedon't wish happens to anybody,
(36:57):
but you've taken that time.
You've turned it into a powerfulmessage.
So, so I, I truly thank you verymuch.
Um, and thank you to you, ourlisteners for tuning in, I hope
that the upcoming harvest seasonis, is a very safe one for you
and, and all the farming yearsleft, um, are done with the most
safety possible, uh, knowingthat the ambulance services
behind you is a great thing, butdon't take it for granted.
And, and remember what a daresaid.
(37:18):
It could certainly happen to youif you enjoyed this episode or
remember to like share andsubscribe to Topcon talks,
agriculture on Spotify, applepodcast, Amazon music, or
wherever you get podcasts.
Thank you once again, andeverybody take care, slow down
and have a good harvest seasonahead.
Hello, and welcome to another edition of Topcon talks,
agriculture.
My name is Dave or, and I am thebusiness development manager for
Topcon.
Today.
We are discussing a topic thatis involved in every farm.
It's not necessarily alwaysdiscussed around the separate
table, but certainly in the backof minds of every individual
working on the farm today, we'rediscussing the common farm
accidents for fatalities in thefield, how to prevent them and
(00:36):
what to do in the event of anaccident.
Farm safety is not a new topic,but we still see tragedies that
are permanently disabled orwreck havoc on the farming
business.
And we need to understand how wecan protect our families, our
neighbors, our relatives, andemployees alike today.
To help me discuss this topic.
We have Austin yellings, thedirector of agricultural
services at AEM.
(00:57):
Austin will help us explain howAEM can play an important role
in the safety and productleadership on the farm.
They support safety awarenessyear round by offering an array
of safety products, manuals, andvideos.
Also joining us today is DarcyMcKay, the provincial director
and critical care paramedic atStar's area ambulance today,
(01:18):
Darcy's going to help us explainhow first responders are trained
for farm emergency responses andunderstand the complexities of
rescuing patients in achallenging and remote location.
A little bit later on in thepodcast, we're gonna have ADA O
Grady join us.
Adair has an experience of afarm accident where stars air
ambulance came to his rescue onthe farm.
(01:38):
CDC ranks agriculture as one ofthe most hazardous industries,
farmers that are a very highrisk of fatal and non-fatal
industries.
And farming is one of the fewindustries where family members
are at the same risk as eachother.
Austin.
What makes agriculture industryso dangerous?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well, I think a lot of it has to do with the
unpredictability of it all.
You know, farmers work in a fastpaced environment where their
day is influenced by so manyfactors that are outside of
their control.
Um, whether that be weather,things of that nature, this
leads to increased pressure onthem in situations where they're
already having to make splitsecond decisions, especially
(02:16):
when a situation begins goingsouth, pairing this with the
fact that they're constantlyworking with either
unpredictable animals, a movingmachinery, um, and that nature,
it creates a what can sometimesbe a, a dangerous combination.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Right?
And, and I guess in yourexperience in dealing with the
safety side of this, um, you've,you've probably heard some
survivor stories or statistics.
What are the most commoninjuries?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Some of the most common accidents though, you
know, include things likerollovers incidents with grain
bins or even manure pits when itcomes to things like
asphyxiation, moving machinerydown, rural roads, or sometimes
not even rural roads.
Um, but that interaction withother other vehicles and, and
people who may not be asfamiliar with being around farm
(03:03):
machinery accidents withchemical handling or just things
like that,
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Maybe you could define for us exactly what AEM
considers a farm accident,because from my knowledge of
farm accident, as any time thatsomebody has put in danger on
the farm, you know, spillingchemical and, and having a skin
burn, we might not think of thatas a farm hazardous accident,
because a lot of times we gowash that off or we go do the
proper treatment ourselves.
Right.
And so, so how do you guystruthfully define a farm
(03:32):
accident on the farm?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
I think, I think that's just it, I, I think, you
know, there are lots ofaccidents that happen on the
farm that we don't necessarilythink of an accident because we,
they happen and we, we take careof them and we move on.
Right.
It doesn't really disrupt ourday too much, but it's re it's
really just that any, anydisruption or, or instance that
wasn't supposed to happen,wasn't planned something as
(03:54):
simple as, as a spill, we cleanit up, we move on, or sometimes
it's much larger than that.
Um, and then there's actualactual injury and intervention
involved.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Could you give us a little bit of insight on what
AEM offers to farmers duringthese, uh, training periods?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah.
Uh, AEM puts together a numberof materials, whether that be
safety manuals, training videos,um, really to do just that, you
know, teach farmers, um,especially from the equipment
standpoint, what, what are thethings that we should be doing?
And I think that that's onething farmers are fairly good at
is most farmers know what theyshould do, but in the moment
(04:29):
when we have all these differentthings going on in the pressure
of the day on us, whether it'strying to beat rain or getting,
getting the crop off, or you'redealing with animals sometimes
what we should do and what weneed to do don't necessarily
match up and we focus more onwhat we need to do rather than
what we should do.
Um, so really it's just aboutthat.
Putting materials out there tokeep that what we should do
(04:51):
message top of mind and reallyingrain it in our minds through
different types of training, um,and repetition and things like
that.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I, is there any statistics that you might have
seen or collected that wouldlead us to understand when we're
more susceptible to farmaccidents?
You obviously say during highpressure times, but is it more
common at the end of the day, oris it more common, you know,
right in the middle of harvestnecessarily.
Um, is there any, you know, kindof statistic that really shows
that farmers and maybe eventheir support system on the farm
(05:21):
can be aware of that it's a,it's a time of the year or it's
a, it's a day of the week thatit's maybe a little bit more
important to exercise all theprecautions.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I, I don't have any hard numbers off, off the top of
my head, but from studies saidI've seen in the past and things
like that, I think it playsright into what you would
expect.
Right.
Um, whether it's towards the endof the day or middle of harvest,
you know, what, when you, whenyou've had the, the pressure of
the day kind of wear you down alittle bit and you've gone
through all your tasks and it's,it's just fatigue and you're en
(05:51):
crunch time and just wanting toget something done.
That's really when it's mostimportant to try to keep those
messages top of mind, becausethat's when we take the
shortcuts to just get thingsdone, right.
We, we have to get it off beforeit rains.
Um, we, you know, we're, we'renearing the end of the season
type of type of thing.
We've, we've gotta, we've gottamake sure that we're keeping
those what we should do top ofmind.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Right.
And as we, you know, get intothose situations, um, and we're
relying on our own intuition totell us to slow down and take a
breath, how do we convinceourselves that the crop isn't
worth it to take it off in themorning?
I know that we're gonna hearfrom a, a, a story a little bit
from now, um, from our friend todare that that should really
(06:33):
resonate home on when to maybeslow down or not do that next
thing.
But how do we keep that in thefront of mind?
It's easy to prepare to keep itthere, but how do we actually
keep it there?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Well, I think it's just reminding ourselves at the
end of the day that whether weget the crop off at this exact
moment or not, it's, it's gonnabe there tomorrow.
Right.
And so it's not worth rushingwith the potential chance to
lose something that we can't getback.
I, you know, a fatal instance,for example, you know, that's,
(07:02):
that's the end of the road thatcrop will still be there.
Uh, you know, it's just takingthat time to slow down and
remember what's important sothat we can take those steps to,
to make sure that we're doingwhat we need to do.
And oftentimes, you know, beingprepared, you know, the minute,
the time that it takes to beprepared while, and it may only
save you a couple seconds on theback end because you're
(07:23):
prepared, you know, what youshould do.
Um, those couple seconds can bethe difference sometimes between
life and death, and it canreally make that difference.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
There's other things that have come into the farming
industry over the past few yearsthat certainly should help farm
accents.
You know, one of them probablyis the industry I work in with
Topcon that's precisionagriculture.
Have you been able to seeanything that correlates to farm
injuries going down because of,um, automation or precision
agriculture?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Well, I know that there are, are some, certainly
some studies out there that takea look at some, uh, you know,
instances of fatigue or stress,right?
And, and that's oftentimes whatcorrelates then to more of these
in injuries when we're fatiguedand want to get the job done, or
when there's high levels ofstress.
And we're making, having to makethese split second decisions
that oftentimes can be thedifference between everything
(08:08):
going smoothly or, or having anaccident.
And O autonomy helps to reduceall of those things, right?
It takes away these tedioustasks that sometimes can, can
wear us down a little bit, or ithelps, uh, you know, just
completely eliminate what could,what could be a dangerous
decision if it's, if it's notmade correctly.
Um, and so it's all about justmaking, you know, the day easier
(08:30):
for the farmer so that theydon't have to make as many of
these stressful decisions.
And it helps, helps lower thatand makes the day a little bit
easier for them at, at the endof the day, taking them out of
those harmful, dangeroussituations.
Hopefully there's differentlevels of, of, of autonomy too,
right?
You, you can have an, you know,semi-autonomous piece something,
(08:50):
you know, I think of like, boom,height control and sprayers that
takes that stress away from the,from the applicator.
So they don't have to worryabout that.
Or you can have a completelyautonomous machine where now you
don't have to do that task.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Children who live on the farm are at the greatest
risk of injury or death on thefarm.
How can you help a farmerchildproof potentially hazardous
areas on the farm or, or, orhelp those discussions on the
farm with young children?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
I, I think it's really, it really starts with,
you know, it's a, it's atwofold, twofold answer, right?
Number one, it starts with justmaking sure that, you know, you,
as you, as the farmer, the farmworker, you know, you know, what
you should be doing.
And, and you're doing that,whether that's, you know, if you
look at, you know, locking upchemicals or just being aware of
the child's location at alltimes, um, making sure that
(09:37):
they're not around running andmoving machinery or, or things
like that.
Um, but then number two, youknow, it's taking the time to
make sure that children areaware of what they should be
doing as well.
I grew up on a farm, my familystill farms.
And it was said to me so manytimes that I was probably
repeating it on my sleep attimes to not go near moving
machinery, or if I had to workon a piece of machinery, make
(09:58):
sure everything was shut off.
And it's just making sure thatthat messaging, um, is
ingrained, you know, in theirminds so that they know cuz you
know, as a child, you see a bigpiece of machinery and it's
fascinating, right?
You want to go see it, touch it,be around it.
But if it's on and operatingthat's, that's not a good thing.
And so it's ingraining thosetypes of messages, um, in their
mind so that they know whenthey, when they engage with a
(10:20):
piece of machinery, how theyshould act, how to engage with
it, to hopefully avoid anyaccidents.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
And I guess that comes right from a young age,
right.
You know, right.
When you're three watching yourdad cut the lawn all the way up,
every piece of machinery thatcomes into the yard, getting
familiar with it andunderstanding the potentially
dangerous things and where to goin the, in the shop and where
not to go because of chemicalstorage or, or what it might be
in am you guys believe that farmemergency plans are a vital
(10:45):
thing that needs to be on thefarm.
Can you please explain, uh, whatshould be included in the farm
emergency plan and why they arestill vital?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Well, it's, it all goes back to, you know, the
overall messaging of all thisright?
Making sure we're prepared,making sure in the moment, if
something happens, we know whatto do.
And that's really the purpose ofa farm emergency plan.
It lays out, you know, indifferent instances, you know,
what should you do?
Who should you call?
And, and it really prepares youfor how you, how to engage in
that moment.
(11:13):
And it just goes back topreparation then at that point,
right?
Making sure we know what thefarm emergency plan is.
So that in the moment we're not,you know, we're not wasting any
time we're getting right toaction doing what needs to be
done.
Cuz as I mentioned earlier, youknow, being prepared while it
may take a little bit of time,it can Le oftentimes lead to
saving those seconds.
That can be mean the differencebetween life and death.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Is there a fair amount of air ambulances
services that are readilyavailable to many jurisdictions
throughout the United States?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
As in my area, um, here in Southeastern Wisconsin
and other areas, I I've been, it, it tends to be fairly common,
right?
As, I mean when, especially whenyou're in a rural area, that's
the that's, that's oftentimesthe, the quickest and most safe
way.
It it's just a level of comfort.
Right.
You know, one of when you're outin a tractor and you're in this,
you know, oftentimes you're notthinking about, you know, what
(12:05):
the worst case scenario couldbe, but that thought does creep
into your mind.
And it's comforting to know thatin that instance, you know, even
though you're in the middle of afield, sometimes in the middle
of nowhere, that there is stillan option to make sure that if
worst case scenario happens,there's a level of comfort
there, knowing that there issomebody there that can be
timely in helping, helping getyou then to help you need.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Awesome.
Thank you very much for yourtime.
Thank you for the information.
Thank you for sharing us, uh,how AEM, uh, views these
accidents and incidences and,and how they help prevent them
and the ongoing work that you'redoing on behalf of all of the
agriculture industry.
Thank you for, for promotingfarm safety.
And thank you for being anambassador of farm safety as
mentioned EMSS and other rescuepersonnel are called the farms
(12:49):
and ranches relativelyinfrequently.
However, when they are cold,it's often includes a complex
situation.
These situations range fromwhere to land or what the actual
medical situation could be.
EMS providers may need to travelfarther, navigate difficult
terrains and enter dangerousspaces or fight adverse weather
conditions.
When responding to calls,joining us today, to talk more
(13:11):
about how EMS is respond and thedifficulty things that they go
through is Darcy McKay.
Who's a provincial director andcritical care paramedic for
stars, air ambulance here inSaskatchewan, Darcy.
Thanks again for joining us.
And why don't you take a littlebit of time to tell us about
yourself and also about stars,air ambulance?
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Well, thanks Dave.
So I've been a critical careparamedic in the EMS industry,
probably just over 30 years now.
And I currently work for starerambulance.
It's an acronym.
It stands for shock trauma airrescue service.
And it actually started inCalgary back in 1985 and it's
kind of cascaded across theprice.
And for those in the states,that's, uh, Alberta,
Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and wehave a huge agriculture
(13:50):
component in all threeprovinces, whether it be farming
or ranching.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Talk me through the process, what happens from the
beginning of the call and thenkind of through the whole
process of the flight,
Speaker 3 (14:00):
For sure.
Um, so it depends how the callcomes in.
It can come directly from 9 1 1,or it can come in through our
emergency link center.
So that's the dispatch center weuse.
So what you and Austin weretalking about, um, in your farm
emergency plan is knowing yourland location.
Uh, it'll allow us to get to youquicker if you don't know your
land location, uh, get, uh, yourfamily and yourself, um, the
(14:22):
awareness of how to pick up yourGPS coordinates off your phone.
We have fantastic technologynowadays.
Um, pull up your GPS.
We can plug that into thecomputer in the helicopter and
fly directly to you.
I I've done it a number of time.
It works slick and of courseyou're getting that much needed
care to that patient quicker.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Right?
And so after you've, you've kindof triaged, um, what exactly is
happening and where you need togo to pilots, get into the, into
the helicopter and paramedicsalike and, and you kind of push
all the hanger and take off.
Correct?
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Correct.
And, and then it's all aboutgetting information.
So is there chemicals on site?
What type of machinery, how manypatients, what the actual, um,
problem is?
Sometimes it can just be, uh,you know, somebody's having a
cardiac event, like a heartattack and they're driving their
combine and are calling us inthe middle of nowhere.
Um, so as you and Austin alreadywent into it, farm emergencies,
there's all different types ofscope.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Are you collecting that data well on board?
Um, I guess from the time of 91, 1 in taking that call, what's
just kind of the, the, the, thetime between, um, triaging that
call and, and getting off theground.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Yeah, the beauty of it is, is our dispatch center.
Uh, the emergency link centeractually gathers all information
and continues throughout thecall.
Um, you know, what resources areavailable, the, the nearest fire
department, the nearest groundambulance.
Um, is there, are we going toneed different resources?
Like you already suggested hydroor power to shut off, uh, the
electrical like grid nearby?
(15:48):
Um, so we take all that intoaccount and then what chemicals
were on scene?
Um, of course we can land upwind and the pilot always do a
nice little of the area just tomake sure everybody's safe and,
and nobody else gets hurt.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
And that's, uh, you know, very crucial things to
know.
And I guess it's also crucial tobe known.
One about the own farm is if,uh, you know, somebody that's
maybe not involved in the farmoperation still needs to know
what's on the scene.
Um, because if they aren't theknowledge keeper and it's a
knowledge keeper that is in needof medical attention, they still
need to be able to provide thatvaluable information.
(16:19):
Um, like you said, even justland locations, but the
chemicals, or if there's hydroclose by or any of those things,
to make sure that, um, we'resaving time, because I would
imagine that having thatknowledge is actually going to
save time, um, in being able toget the helicopter down onto the
ground faster than having to tryand navigate through those
things yourselves from the sky.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Yeah, exactly.
Dave, you know, quickness andthen again, safety for
everybody.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
What specific on-farm resources or manpower and tools
do you use to rescue farmers andto protect your people?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
So the biggest thing we use at stars is education
more than anything.
So training awareness, you know,we're dealing with exercise,
herbicide, fertilizer, how toshut off a power takeoff, like
stuff like that is just vitalimportant.
It seems so simple, but it's soimportant.
How do you shut off a piece ofmachinery and then what
resources are available thatwill need, because some of these
pieces of equipment, they're,they're almost like built like a
(17:13):
tank and, you know, so how doyou get in if somebody needs to
be extricated, the properresources that are needed to,
uh, to, uh, get to that patient
Speaker 1 (17:20):
And, and does in your situation with stars, do you
guys fly with tools such as jawsof life to be able to operate
those things?
Or are you relying on groundemergency crews to help you with
that?
Speaker 3 (17:30):
We rely on ground.
Uh, so it's kind of like a smallvillage to get to that patient.
So we don't carry the jaws justcuz of the weight, but, uh, we
use would use the ground firedepartments.
What we do carry though is likethe antidotes of, uh, some of
the chemicals that are, uh, usedin farming.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
You guys do a lot of training about how, um, people
on the, the ground can properlyassist air ambulances in, in
landing creating a safe spacefor communities.
And that's known as, you know,the landing spot if, if needed.
And, and, and that's probablyalso something that could be
part of an emergency plan.
Um, if something happens on thefarm, where would we suggest
Star's air, ambulance land,correct?
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Yeah.
So, uh, the helicopter meansabout 30 meters by 30 million.
I ideally flat.
And if there's one thing thatthe prairies have, it's, it's a
lot of flat land, so, uh, um,but yeah, basically it's safe.
We can land on a road to it.
There's just risks every time,but ideally you wanna get as cl
and, uh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna,the closer you can get to the
patient, the better, the less Ihave to walk.
I'm just saying that as a jokeobviously, but, uh, closer you
(18:29):
can land the better.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
What are some challenges you encounter during
an ag related, uh, mission?
Speaker 3 (18:35):
The big thing again is just isolation, like, uh, to
get to that patient.
If they're not most farms in, inthree promises I work in is
they're huge.
So they could be somewhere onthe farm.
We don't know that's whatimportant to know the GPS
location, but just getting theresources that you need to the
patient.
Uh, if it's required, just likefor extrication, um, it, it can
(18:57):
be difficult sometimes, but, um,that's the beauty of the
helicopter as well.
You get the land right besidethe, the patient.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
And I guess it's also important to note that, you
know, land descriptions probablyalso in the field that you're
working on throughout theMidwest of America, and then up
into the prairies, we're on somepretty large farms, um, in the
line location of the home yardsite could be a few miles away.
And if you're circling around a,a homestead and the farmer is
out in the north 40 or whateveryou want to call it, that could
(19:23):
be quite a ways away that youmight not just see right away
from the air also.
Right.
So it's important to know whereeverybody on the farm is at all
times and, and good landlocations for that too.
Correct?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Exactly.
Dave.
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
So what does farm rescue and response training
look like?
Um, for, for you guys?
I know you, you offer some, youknow, you talked about how you
guys internally train and thetools that you guys use of how
to, you know, help shut downequipment once you arrive on
scene or, or be able to navigatethrough that.
But do you guys do any trainingsfor farmers and, and the
agricultural industry you like?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Yeah, well, we, we work in, uh, combination with,
with farmers as well.
And, and like I said, groundambulance, uh, police, uh, fire
it, like it takes a village to,uh, you know, get to that
patients
Speaker 1 (20:06):
From there, from once the patient is in, it's just a
straight B-line back to thelocal, to the closest hospital
with the helicopter pad, um, ora closest landing spot to a, to
get the patient to the medicalattention they need.
Correct.
Well,
Speaker 3 (20:18):
We'll, uh, stabilize the patients in, in the air, so
to speak and take that patientprobably depending on what they
need.
Like, um, if it's trauma related, we'll take'em to a trauma
center.
If it's, uh, let's say it's aheart attack.
That's, like I said, saidpreviously, someone, one in a
combine combine will get them toa cath lab.
So it all depends on the type ofverge.
If somebody's having a stroke,there's, uh, various types of,
(20:39):
uh, accidents and injuries thatcan happen on, uh, on the, uh,
farm, unfortunately, a lot aretrauma related.
So we probably go to a traumacenter, uh, for the majority of
our, uh, patients and, uh,hopefully get them to the, uh,
operating table soon.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
So board of a star air ambulance, what, what
traditionally is there forpersonnel, um, to help on this
mission?
So
Speaker 3 (20:59):
We always fly with two pilots.
Uh, one's the, uh, pilot andcommand the others, the safety
officers, just to making surethe helicopter and the, uh,
scene is safe.
And then we fly a nurseparamedic combo.
They kind of come from eachother and we also have the
option of reading a transportphysician, uh, along, and they
can, uh, help assist, uh, onseek as well if need be.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
And then does a, you know, a stars helicopter, um, is
that outfitted very similar towhat we believe a ground
transportation, ambulance wouldhave for, um, tools and
abilities to stabilize apatient?
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Yeah, they, they have some of the same tools as well.
Um, uh, they have a couple ofmore skills that they can
perform and as well, they have afew more medications they can
administer.
Um, we also carry blood on board, which is kind of a game
changer for trauma, uh, relatedinjuries.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Interesting.
And, and so, in, in closing,what do you believe every farmer
could do to prevent theseinjuries?
I know that Austin and I had agreat dialogue on, on making
sure that you understand yourbasically your surroundings,
whether it's a stress level orit's a power post internal,
external surroundings, what,what do you believe could help
prevent accidents like this on adaily basis?
Speaker 3 (22:07):
I think you and Austin actually kind of nailed
it.
Take your time.
I know in farming when you havethe opportunity to make hay, so
to speak, you make hay, you go,and so don't rush.
And then I have a good plan.
Know your land location.
If I could get one thing acrossis know your land location, and
know how to pull up your GPS onyour phone.
You know, if, if you can havethe option of always farm with a
buddy, uh, meaning somebody tohave, or at least if you don't
(22:30):
have that, have them check up onyou.
It's so easy to either talk on a, like a walkie talkie, CV,
radio, text message phone everyhour, just to check in on you
just to see how you're doing andmake sure everything's okay.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Right.
And I, I know I asked Austinthis about, he has a little bit
larger breath of, of ground tocover.
And he said, he, he said that toair ambulance services are quite
frequent.
And I know in, in doing someresearch that a lot of air
ambulances are saying the exactsame thing know where you are
once the accident happens,there's nothing you can do to
uneven that.
So just know where you are andthat's, that's the next best
thing for you.
(23:02):
So, you know, we'll certainly beadvocates in helping you hound
that one home.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Thanks, Dave, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Today.
You've brought a very specialperson to help explain farm
accidents.
You know, maybe be an advocatefor slowing down, taking that
extra, extra breath or second,why don't you help us, uh,
introduce a dare.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Yeah, so we call our, uh, patients who we have flown,
uh, VIPs.
That's a very important patient.
And, and to me, I could tell thetale, uh, but I think it's so
much more powerful hearing itfrom the patient or patient
family, uh, themselves.
So, uh, yeah, I, uh, present toyou, uh, Dar Grady.
Who's gonna tell you his story.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Awesome.
Thanks Darcy.
Thank you so much Adaire forjoining us today.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
Thanks Dave, for having me and allowing me to
share my story and thanks Darcyfor the introduction.
Appreciate the stars team.
I'll let you guys do great,great group of people.
So my story, I guess, startsback in 2015 on the farm.
It was a regular spring day.
We had just recently purchased anew air Cedar and, uh, my dad
(24:05):
and myself were working throughtrying to get it set up.
It was a fairly warm day.
We were trying, working throughsome electronics, trying to get
alarms to work, gettingeverything dialed in the typical
scenario of getting everythingrolling and feeling some
pressure to get seating as welltoo is time is marching along.
(24:27):
Um, I farm for 20 actuallylonger than 20 years, probably
30 years of my life for this.
And I've always worked with mydad and the scenario played out
where we had sought the air ofCedar.
We were just getting ready forsupper was probably about 6:00
PM.
And, uh, just double checking tomake sure that everything was
(24:48):
good to go.
Like most farmers, you arechecking the depth of your seat
to make sure that it's in themoisture and not too deep.
And I was down on the ground.
We had parked the air Cedar upon, uh, the edge of a hill.
I had stopped mid pass and, uh,my father actually had pulled up
and we were just double checkingit and just talking through next
(25:10):
steps of the evening andshutting it down for supper just
to go eat and then get thingsrolling.
And as, uh, I was checking thedepth, um, and we had decided to
go in and decided to move overjust one more Passover, one more
furrow over, just in the sea rowjust to make sure everything was
perfect.
(25:31):
And, and you know, like so manytimes in farming, because you've
worked with the person so long,you just know each other.
A lot of times you find that youdon't even need to communicate.
They just know you where you'regonna be.
At that moment.
My dad actually jumped into thetruck, had talked to just had
(25:51):
phone back to the farm and said,Hey, we're coming in for supper.
Um, looked around and thoughtthe coast was clear.
He was on the edge of the hillas well, too.
And, uh, looked over and thoughtthat I was already back at the
tractor simple mistake.
At that time, he decided that hewas going to, um, drive ahead
(26:12):
and out of the field.
And at that moment, I wasprobably about eight feet in
front of the truck.
And, uh, look back and realizedas he was moving forward.
I'm like, he does not see me.
And like any accident, ithappens quick.
It's not, not something that youcan ever prepare for.
And you have multiple seconds tothink through so many scenarios
(26:35):
at that moment, I decided itwould be best to try to roll out
of the way, because it was downon my hands and knees close to
the ground.
As I tried to do that, it waslike within a matter of seconds
in the front wheel of our, um,one 10 service truck was up on
my chest.
The tire came up my arm acrossmy chest and, and stopped just
(26:56):
shy.
There was actually tread markson my chest and on my chin at
that moment, my dad stopped andsaid, well, that's weird.
There's no rocks in the field.
And then it hit him that I wasunder the truck.
So a lot of things happenedreally quick after that moment,
like any, um, accident oremergency.
(27:16):
And you're in shock as the truckwas on me.
Uh, the last thing I rememberwas passing out and, uh, and I
couldn't breathe.
Um, my world kind of went reallydark.
My dad backed off of me andimmediately got outta the truck
and got a hold of 9 1 1 andsaid, Hey, we have an emergency,
(27:39):
which dispatched the local EMSgroup that we have out here,
which is in rural areas.
It is the first step in thewhole critical care process,
which leads to stars.
It was a matter of minutes.
They dispatched from a localtown.
That's close to us and proceededout to, um, the location as to
where I was at.
(27:59):
And, uh, and immediately startedlooking after me at that time.
They didn't know what all waswrong, but for me, I wasn't able
to see for a period of time,just from the pressure of, of
the vehicle driving up on me, myvitals were dropping and, uh, I
was really struggling to breathe, not knowing what was gonna
happen at that moment.
(28:20):
I think they decided that thiswas serious.
We needed to do something quickand it probably included stars.
So at some point in time, theirstars was contacted.
And I think originally they wereset up flares out in the field
for the helicopter, but becausemy oxygen level and my ability
to breathe was so low.
They decided it was wise to putplace me in the ambulance and,
(28:43):
uh, proceed with travelingtowards Saskatoon to meet stars
and, uh, and just mitigate thetime that it took to get me to
critical care.
My wife was called at the sametime.
And she came out to the field,along with the kids.
And again, lots of things arehappening.
(29:03):
They told her she couldn't jumpin the ambulance, but she
proceeded do she, wasn't gonnaleave my side and, uh, traveled
with me in the ambulance to gomeet the stars team.
It was probably about a half anhour away that they, they met
stars.
So that tells you how quickstars is coming from two and a
half hours away.
They were, they were already upin the air and moving and met
(29:26):
them quickly.
They landed and chose a placeto, to meet at that was that
worked well and, uh, proceededto quickly move me outta the,
um, ambulance and into thehelicopter.
My wife being in shock had tosay goodbye to me.
(29:46):
There's always sometimesemotional parts when you tell a
story.
So for my wife having to saygoodbye, um, no knowing if that
was the last time she was gonnasee me, it was, it was tough.
There was hoping that though,too, um, Jenny was the flight
(30:09):
nurse that, uh, was with me thatday and she took my wife's
number down and, uh, encouragedher and, uh, proceeded to text
her, um, just as we traveledinto the university hospital in,
um, Saskatoon for Mely.
I didn't know if I was gonnasurvive.
(30:32):
I didn't know what the endlooked like, cuz it was a bit
scary.
Um, they took me to the U U OFShospital in Saskatoon where I
was placed into critical carethere.
My incident included six brokenribs, um, a broken collarbone
included, uh, um, a collapsedlung bleeding around my heart.
(30:55):
Um, my eyes because of thepressure had, were protruding
and I wasn't able to see for aperiod of time.
So I had issues with vision aswell too.
And I, I guess to the entirejourney, I can say thank you
enough to the people that werethere by my side, like any
accident, things happen quickly.
(31:17):
And, uh, you just never know.
It's not something you can youexpect.
But through this, through thisepisode, we've talked about a
lot of ways to prepare a lot ofthings that we can do.
I think it's good to be out infront of farmers and have these
discussions because life getsbusy.
We all, we all have that,whether it's it's in harvest or
(31:40):
seating or whether it's on aperson getting prepared to get
away for a long weekend where wesee incidents and accidents
heightened too.
I think it's important for allof us to be reminded and, and to
do these things, to makeawareness and to just get out in
front of farmers and have thosethose discussions.
So that's my story of thejourney I've been on and this
(32:02):
story doesn't end there.
I've had the great opportunityto, to come through this and I'm
a hundred percent on the otherside, I had great help.
Um, I've had the opportunity tomeet the stars at the stars,
base the team there, um, andhave built a great relationship
with them.
I've been able to help in a verysmall way, helping with
different functions and eventsand, uh, things that they do and
(32:25):
including this podcast that youguys are putting together as
well too.
So I appreciate the opportunityas a person that's gone through
an incident and being able toshare my story and, and just
help other people out tohopefully prevent something like
this from happening again in thefuture.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Uh, dare I, I can't, um, express enough gratitude to
you for, for joining us todayand, and sharing that story.
You know, sometimes thesestories are the best way to
educate people, to put intoperspective, um, what you had to
go through.
It's absolutely amazing thattoday you are where you are and
you're a hundred percent on theother side, as you said.
So that is a truly remarkablething.
(33:06):
And it's, it's such a, afascinating thing to know that
it was because of the, the workof the emergency people.
It might not just be theirambulance services, but it's
also the ground people and theground ambulance, but it
certainly is gotta be reassuringto know that if something does
happen again, those people arestill three digits away from
(33:29):
that all trickling down intoaction.
It's not, you know, things thatyou have to take on yourself.
It's, it's one phone call foryour dad or, or for that person
that's helping the situation,right?
So accidents are gonna happen,right?
And, and, and we're lucky tohave you here today to tell us
about your accident and, andwhat we can learn from it.
But, you know, the common themeseems to be, make sure you slow
(33:50):
down.
You take that extra breath and,and you know, the crops are
gonna be there or the livestockwill be there, right?
You have a lot of fellow workersin the egg industry.
What would you say could, couldchange the way that something
happens on the farm?
Speaker 4 (34:04):
You know, um, you guys have resonated on a lot of
great things and, and I, I am insimilar as well as that, that
take time to communicate.
Communication's critical inanything.
Sometimes we get moving too fastand don't take the time, take
time to just double check.
Um, a double check at any pointin time can save a life.
(34:26):
Um, after I was run over, I wasdoing some research on, um,
number of incidents of peoplebeing run over.
And I think in the number wasclose to 12 people in America
per date were run over.
And I guess that's what leads tobackup cameras as well, too.
But as life is busy, we don'ttake the time to double check
(34:47):
and then just making eyecontact.
If you're working with somebody,it's one of the things we sat
down with after the accident andsaid, Hey, you know what need to
communicate if we're gonna beworking near each other and just
loud noises and you can'tcommunicate verbally, verbally,
you need to be able to make eyecontact with that person.
So they understand that you'reaware of them and what they're
(35:08):
doing and give them a thumbs up,right.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
And using the machinery for the right job.
And the way it's meant to beused also is crucial.
Absolutely crucial.
Speaker 4 (35:17):
And don't assume that you're, that it'll never happen
to you.
Um, I think in our mind, at somepoint in time, we all have that
thought that it's not, it can'tbe me.
It, you know, I I'm safe.
I do everything right, but itcan happen to anybody.
I, I just want to thank Dave and, uh, Topcon for just
identifying the need for farmsafety and making awareness and,
(35:41):
and taking the time to put thistogether, to be able to provide
it to farmers and, and, uh,people out there to be able to
be aware of this.
So I appreciate that.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
No, it's the least we could do.
It's, uh, it's a greatinitiative that I know is, you
know, mentioned several times onthis call.
It's near and dear to the heartsof a lot of people in
agriculture is farm safety.
For sure.
It's important to continuouslystay vigilant about safety rules
and equipment and train everyoneon your team.
Topcon encourages everyone tomake a safety, a priority, keep
(36:13):
yourself, and those who workwith you protected from
incidents by doing things likehaving a farm emergency plan and
knowing your land location.
Once again, I'd really like tothank our, our guests today,
Austin Geer from AEM.
Um, your insight on farm safetywas absolutely unbelievable.
Darcy, thank you for taking thetime to explain to us exactly
what a near ambulance servicecan do, how they operate and how
(36:35):
they work, um, to ensure thatmissions go seamlessly, but also
the end goal of, of making surethat patient is, is taken care
of and a dare once again, cannotthank you enough for, for
sharing your powerful story withus, allowing us to come into
probably, you know, a little bitmore of a personal matter with
you and, and opening up to usand, and helping promote farm
safety through something that wedon't wish happens to anybody,
(36:57):
but you've taken that time.
You've turned it into a powerfulmessage.
So, so I, I truly thank you verymuch.
Um, and thank you to you, ourlisteners for tuning in, I hope
that the upcoming harvest seasonis, is a very safe one for you
and, and all the farming yearsleft, um, are done with the most
safety possible, uh, knowingthat the ambulance services
behind you is a great thing, butdon't take it for granted.
And, and remember what a daresaid.
(37:18):
It could certainly happen to youif you enjoyed this episode or
remember to like share andsubscribe to Topcon talks,
agriculture on Spotify, applepodcast, Amazon music, or
wherever you get podcasts.
Thank you once again, andeverybody take care, slow down
and have a good harvest seasonahead.
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