Allison Irvine (middle) will receive another honour today as she's been selected for an Exemplary Service Medal from the Governor General of Canada. (Submitted Photo/Lyle Karasiuk)

By Rob Mahon

Local Paramedic Recognized

Longtime Shellbrook volunteer first responder earns exemplary service medal

Sep 15, 2021 | 1:00 PM

Over the last 24 years, Allison Irvine has seen just about every facet of the first responder life in the Shellbrook area, and she’s seen much of it as a volunteer.

Today, she is being recognized for her years of service by Lieutenant Governor Russ Mirasty.

Irvine, along with Mike Dansereau, community paramedics with Parkland Ambulance in Prince Albert, are being recognized with Governor General Exemplary Service Medals for serving the community for 20 years. In fact, in Irvine’s case it’s been longer than that as she started volunteering with the fire department in 1993.

“(It’s) overwhelming,” Irvine said of the award. “It’s very humbling and something I still can’t get used to.”

Irvine started volunteering as a medical first responder, the position for which she’s being awarded in 1994. When she saw people close to her having medical emergencies, she realized she wanted to do more to help.

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“My dad had suffered a heart attack, one of my classmates had been in a motor vehicle collision,” Irvine said. “Just seeing the helplessness of the fire department at that time of that accident, to have somebody trained medically to help them would’ve been a good benefit. It was something I knew I could do.”

Having been a volunteer firefighter herself, Irvine knew firsthand the challenges they faced. She saw an ad in the local newspaper for training with Parkland Ambulance, so she took that training. In the years since, she’s passed her knowledge on to others teaching CPR and First Aid regularly.

“I think my students enjoy coming to my classes and learning from me,” Irvine said. “They gain the benefit of my personal experience. I try to put a personal touch to my classes when I’m teaching. Hopefully the knowledge that I’m sharing with them, they’ll be able to use it and be able to respond to any medical emergency that they come upon.”

On top of all this, Irvine still works full-time as a detachment clerk with the RCMP. Time off can be a little hard to come by, but she said it’s important that communities like Shellbrook have people willing to volunteer their time in an emergency.

“Right now, our group is down to two people, so we would always like to have more people volunteer,” she said. “It’s something you can’t really describe to people. Some people will start out in it thinking they can do it, but you’re not called out at regular hours and the situations, sometimes, they’ll see something and they’re finished. It’s something really hard to recruit people to. I think people need to want to help people but they also have to be strong. Some of the things we see aren’t always pleasant and not everybody can deal with those.”

This is the second time Irvine has been recognized for her volunteer work as she earned the Saskatchewan Emergency Medical Services Association’s (now Paramedic Services Chiefs of Saskatchewan) Star of Life Award in 2003.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP