Broncos tragedy leads to focus on first responders’ mental health

The Humboldt Broncos bus crash was a dark day in the province, but the tragedy has helped shed light on the mental health of first responders.

On Wednesday, the province announced $250,000 in funding for mental health and addictions programming at the Saskatchewan Emergency Medical Services Association (SEMSA) conference in Saskatoon.

The funding will go toward developing programs and training that provides ongoing mental health supports for both public and private emergency medical services.

“That is big,” said SEMSA vice-president Kelly Prime. “We were literally clawing at the wall to find where we could go get help.”

Prime has witnessed colleagues quit or even commit suicide over the years because they didn’t have the proper support to deal with their mental trauma.

Jessica Brost, the owner of North East EMS in Nipawin, was one of the first paramedics who rushed to the scene of the Broncos bus crash last April.

Brost said that, before the crash, the issue of mental health always seemed to be on the back burner without much action.

“It’s unfortunate it takes an event like this but I guess there can be some positive to such a tragedy,” she said.

The horrific images of the crash have stayed with Brost and her staff, but she says everyone has returned to work and are on the path to healing.

“At this point a year later, I can say my staff are doing very well,” she said. “They’re very resilient.”

The six EMS agencies who responded to the April 2018 crash were honoured Thursday night at the SEMSA conference.