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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2007-10-10, Page 28Page 28 The Huron Expositor • October 10, 2007 News Art McNaughton w exemplary service medal Paramedic remembers when ringing g g red phone meant a .Seaforth .ambulanc _Susan Hundertmark a call award. It's exciting and I'm hon- iMEMIlli oured," says McNaughton. There were two phones 'in Art The medal is given to those with a McNaughton's Seaforth house when minimum of 20 years' service, he began his career with Box including 10 years in the perfor- Furniture, funeral home and ambu- mance of duties involving potential lance services. risk. A ringing black phone meant "The award says you have gone there was a body to pick up for the above and beyond what would nor - neral home. And, a ringing red phone meant there was an accident or medical emergency to attend with the ambu- lance. "The phones rang in everyone's house who worked for Box and whoever was on call ran to the back of the store for the ambu- lance," he recalls. Thirty years later, McNaughton is an advanced care para- medic and supervisor with the Huron County ambulance services. He is also one of six Huron County paramedics to be honoured this year with an emergency med- ical services exemplary service medal. He received the award in Toronto last week from Canada's Governor General Michaele Jean. "This is my first time getting an mally be done in the course of a career," says David Lew, manager of the Huron County ambulance services. Other Huron County recipients this year included Greg Schwindt, of Clinton who works out of the Tuckersmith ambu- lance station, Brad Lucas, of Exeter and Greg Gordon, Tony Sowthwell and Gary Renaud, all of Goderich. McNaughton began working with the ambulance in 1977 after a year in the armed forces. "I decided the army wasn't my calling when Dick Box of the furni- ture store offered me a job to work for his company," he says. "In the Susan Hundertmark photo old days, those who ran the funeral Art McNaughton holds the medical services exemplary service home also ran the ambulance as a medal he received recently for his years as a Huron County courtesy." paramedic. Four wee of training Camp Bord and a one -ye community co lege course pr pare McNaughton write the provi cial exam become an eme gency medic attendant. McNaughto says that whe he first started the ambulanc was calle almost ever weekend to a ca accident involy ing alcohol. "But, toda you don't se that very often It's partly to d with designated drivers and I think kids are getting smarter," he says. He says today's accidents are more likely to be caused by driver error or `When you enjoy what you do, it's never work. And, it was certainly never boring,' -- Paramedic Art McNaughton Signs Prints Clothing Embroidery Fusion OPEN HOUSE OCTOBER 13 & 14 Savings On AIT Produ«sanrseM«,E,The ezDa,j RIK JERSEYS ROME & AWAY $ 1 15.00 Ptc. 1114.00 Hoodies'& GNdon Noodles $25.00 Reg. $35.00 Hats From $3.99 rron.br. Mos Offering Large Format Printing et Laminating Services • • 1 SET 12• x 21• $85.00 ec. s 1moo Coffee MUGS Bury 3 Get 1 Free lking In your p+ro$o, 6 nom Morn put GNO GG o iI crew: R*+a • 1000 Cards Full Colour w/ Heed $95.00 ING. 8125.00 Vehicle Let:e,-; Save the G.S.T. On all Vinyl lettering 3 Seventh Ave. Vanastra, Ontario 519-9554034 eutoerfsigns.ca lasoneewapparel.com ks speed. a t Another change over the past 30 en years involves the number of ambu- ar lances available. 1- Before the county took over ambu- e- lance services, McNaughton says d each area generally had one ambu- to lance each. n- "It wasn't uncommon back then to that we'd pick up one person and r- drop him off at the hospital and go al back and get the next person," he says of the late 1970s and early n 1980s. n As well, ambulance attendants n , were on call for several days at a t e time opposed to the shift system s d now in place. y "Getting pagers was a big thing. b r They gave you some freedom from fe - your home. Before that, you had to t stick the phone out the window if s y you were on call. You had to hear e that phone," says McNaughton. M He says being a paramedic has a o been a very rewarding career that to allowed him to see people at their in best and worst. "When you enjoy what you do, it's in never work. And, it was certainly pa never boring," he says. "You see birth to death and in this in area, you know the people, their families and all their circum- fr stances." tr McNaughton was always happy of to continue his training throughout the past 30 years and was one of the first group in Huron County to receive the advanced care training. He says being able to offer more med- ical care, such as defibrillation, IVs, a greater number of med- ications and intubation (breathing tubes), has helped para- medics improve the outcomes for patients. "I remember when CPR was a thing only a doc- tor could do and now we have public access defibrillators in arenas," he says. He says tech- nology has also improved drasti- cally during the past five years, offering paramedics computer map- ping and GPS to improve response times to emergencies. Because training has always been important to McNaughton, he's been a Ministry of Health trainer for ambulance services since 1980. He got involved in teaching after he, Dr. Marianne Smith and Seaforth nurse Darlene Heatherington decided to teach CPR to members of the local com- munity. "The Lions bought us a man- equin to get us started and we aught 1000s how, to do it," he ays. "The reward is that your skills are eing extended to others and you el that you're a part of it (when hose you taught save lives)," he ays. For the past 10 years, cNaughton has also been part of n Ontario equivalency testing am, which tests paramedics enter - g the province and an instructor the base hospital program help - g to certify and recertify local ramedics. Since June, he's been a supervisor Huron County. "Every day is different. You go om boredom to excitement, frus- ation to reward - the whole gamut emotions," says McNaughton. '