Some of the best things about summer are music festivals and outdoor events.
What could be finer than sunshine, fresh air, green grass, and the camaraderie of shared interests?
But there’s sometimes another side to these idyllic gatherings, a side most of us might not even notice.
It’s personal emergencies: Heat stroke. Overconsumption. Fractures. Cuts. Mental health episodes.
Such individual crises tend to get lost in a large crowd of happy, busy people. But they happen. And when they do, someone has to be there to help.
Emergency professionals
This is where CrewMed Inc. comes in. Owned and operated by experienced emergency professionals Kurtis Adamus and Elliott Gardner of Ottawa, the company provides highly-trained emergency medical responders to a wide variety of events.
There are several volunteer organizations doing similar work, but Kurtis and Elliott believe that when people are trained and dedicated to public safety and to helping people, they should be paid. It’s why they started CrewMed.
“At the end of the day,” Kurtis says, “if you're a medical services worker at a music festival, you’re the one who gets thrown up on, or bled on or whatever other bodily fluid might happen. And you provide a high level of service.” It’s only fair, he reasons, that such professionals should be compensated.
First response experts
CrewMed team members come from professional first response services ‒ many from the Ottawa Paramedic Service or Ottawa Fire Services. “And they do this because they love it,” Kurtis says. “They’re passionate about what they do.”
Most of CrewMed’s work so far is in Ottawa and Gatineau, but they have been present at events in the Greater Toronto area as well. Outside their on-site emergency work, CrewMed provides corporate first aid and first aid counselling.
The Lifesaving Society
Kurtis knows the music festival scene well. He is a musician with a Bachelor of
Music who has spent a good deal of time at musical events as performer and patron. He is also an accomplished swimmer who teaches lifeguards and first aid. It’s this work and his work with the Lifesaving Society ‒ along with his business degree from Carleton University ‒ that culminate in his expertise with CrewMed. He’s involved in other work as a business consultant and as the Lifesaving Society’s technology expert. CrewMed is a seasonal enterprise at the moment, but he and Elliott expect the company to eventually expand to year-round work on a variety of sites.
An event for CrewMed might be a music festival, a sporting event, or a social gathering such as After Prom, a huge party at one of the Gatineau Airport hangars. Before any event begins, CrewMed checks into the first aid station or first aid tent as a team and go through all the briefings they need to do. They check the safety spots, egress and ingress, the security team and how it operates. If there is a patient who is able to walk, security brings the patient to the CrewMed team. Otherwise, CrewMed goes to the patient.
Critical certifications
CrewMed team members have different levels of certification. Elliott, for example, whom Kurtis met when they both worked as first responders for the Rideau Canal, is a firefighter with the City of Ottawa's Fire Service. He holds several certifications for firefighting, hazardous materials, and safety education. He is an emergency medical responder recognized by the Canadian Paramedic Association.
But beside certifications, Elliott and all the CrewMed professionals “have a ton of first- hand experience,” Kurtis says. They know exactly what to do in a variety of emergency situations.
Kurtis explains the most common emergency at events such as music festivals is over-consumption of drugs or alcohol. There is also exposure to heat or cold. When it’s a sporting event such as a BMX tournament, fractures and other injuries can happen.
Taking the pressure off
Kurtis and Elliott are proud of the fact that their company plays a big role in mitigating the pressure on hospitals and 911. They call an ambulance when it is necessary, but they rarely need to, and this allows emergency resources to go where they’re needed most urgently.
At the Canada Day event for the Riverside South Community Association, Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliff thanked them personally for their work.
“A lot of people appreciate us,” Kurtis says, “We get a lot of support. People are very happy to see us.”
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