Latest news with #July2021
CBC
3 days ago
- Health
- CBC
'She's my hero': Young girl saves grandmother from stroke twice
It was like any other day on the farm, but within minutes, the ordinary turned life-changing. Meaka Star's quick recognition of a stroke may have saved her grandmother Marleen Conacher's life. They're sharing their story this June, Stroke Awareness Month, to raise awareness of the signs of stroke and the importance of acting fast. "She saved my life, or saved me at least from a life of maybe a wheelchair or not being able to talk, with her fast actions. She saved me and she'll always be my hero," Marleen said. Marleen was spending time with her two granddaughters in July 2021. The plan was simple: dinner, a movie and a relaxing night. Meaka, who was 10 years old at the time, noticed something was off. Her grandmother's voice had disappeared and her face was drooping. Then she collapsed. "I called dad and told him what was happening. So he told me to call 911," Meaka said in an interview on CBC's Saskatoon Morning. Her quick thinking got Marleen to the hospital just in time. Then it happened again six days later. Marleen, who was recovering from the last stroke, couldn't open a pill bottle. Meaka spotted the signs immediately. "I knew exactly what was happening again. So I called Dad. He told me to do the same thing, call 911. So I did. And then my Auntie Lori came and took Mama to the hospital," she said "They were really proud of me and really surprised that a 10-year-old did that." Meaka received a Hero Award at school. Marleen said her granddaughter is her hero. The FAST method for recognizing a stroke FAST (face, arms, speech, time) is an acronym for steps to take to assess whether someone is having a stroke. Face: Is their face drooping? Arms: Can they lift both of their arms? Speech: It it slurred or gone? Time: It's of the essence. If you think they could be having a stroke, call 911 right away. Another close call Carmi Levy, 46, is a stroke survivor. He's also a journalist and technology writer for CBC. He lives in London, Ont. He now uses his media voice to raise awareness about strokes. He said his main message during Stroke Awareness Month is to take symptoms seriously and seek care immediately. Levy was feeling fit and out for a bike ride in the summer of 2013 when a simple turning of his head tore an artery in his neck. Hours later while barbecuing for his family, he collapsed. "Thankfully my my wife had seen what happened. She saw me collapse, came out from inside the house," he said on CBC's Saskatchewan Weekend. "While I thought I had simply fainted, very quickly I realized I couldn't answer her questions. I couldn't speak." He also realized he couldn't get up and the right side of his body was paralyzed. His wife, a teacher, was trained in the FAST protocol as part of her school's first aid training. She noticed the signs and called 911 immediately. "When you have a stroke, it is essentially cutting off blood supply to your brain. Your brain cells die. The longer this takes, the more brain cells you lose and they don't grow back," he said. He said he was glad that he got the care he needed within the "window of opportunity." Levy said he's recovered, but his sense of balance is still a bit off sometimes as he leans against walls. "When I'm on the bike, I don't feel it at all. And the faster I go, the better it feels," he said. "I will always happily head to the same area where this happened, almost as a way of telling the universe, not my time yet."
RNZ News
16-06-2025
- RNZ News
Paramedic loses medical registration after strangling partner, biting nose
By Jeremy Wilkinson, Open Justice reporter of The offender was previously given home detention for the abuse. Photo: Supplied/123/RF WARNING: This article discusses domestic violence. "I'm gonna see you burn at the stake", a paramedic told his partner, before biting her nose, pulling her hair and strangling her. The man, who has name suppression and was previously given home detention for the abuse, has now been stripped of his medical licence for at least two years. According to the police summary of facts, the man grabbed his now ex-partner by the arm in July 2021, twisted it behind her back and shoved her against a fridge, denting it. During another incident in 2022, he told her he would "burn her at the stake", before pulling her by the hair, trying to kick her in the head, and placing his hands around her neck and strangling her. While the man was strangling the woman, he bit into her nose, causing bleeding and bruising around her eyes, while their young child watched, pleading for him to stop. The man then picked up his child, placed her in his car and drove roughly two metres, before getting out and going back to the woman. He grabbed her by her hair and pulled her to the ground. Neighbours overheard the yelling and called the police, who turned up shortly before 10pm and pushed the man onto a couch in his lounge. The man reacted by unzipping the constable's vest and attempted to get hold of their Taser, before eventually being restrained with help from members of the public. In 2023, the man also psychologically abused the woman over the phone, while there was a protection order in place against him. After pleading guilty, he was given 11 months' home detention by a District Court judge for seven offences relating to the 2022 incident, as well as concurrent terms of three months' home detention for a further five offences. In sentencing, the judge said, "What happened here was extraordinarily dangerous" and said that it was a "prolonged instance of family violence", which involved "serious acts of coercive control to dominate the victim". Following his convictions, a Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) of the Paramedic Council filed charges of professional misconduct against the man at the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, claiming he was no longer fit to work as a paramedic. The PCC said that the man's convictions showed a serious loss of self-control in response to a situation that had made him angry and his conduct did not reflect the high standards expected of a paramedic. "It is relevant that paramedics may attend to victims of family violence and that they may often do so in the victim's own home. "This practice environment requires a high degree of trust, particularly where patients will often have little to no say in who attends them," their submissions read. The PCC also noted that paramedics were required to work closely with other first responders, including police, and that resisting arrest from a constable was particularly concerning. The practitioner provided the tribunal with some context for his offending, claiming his partner was using methamphetamine against his wishes, which frustrated him. He said his former partner had sought to minimise her role in the conflict, was pushing an incorrect narrative and had played the victim at every opportunity. "[The ex-partner] stating that I am violent and controlling is an excellent scapegoat position for her behaviour, however not truthful or representative of the situation," he told the PCC. "My explanation for assaulting my partner is that I was trapped in an abusive and controlling relationship with her, culminating in a predictable explosion of violence, as the police, councilors [sic], colleagues, friends and families all avoided the obvious." The man said he questioned the woman's evidence about the incident where he strangled her. "You know, she told police, 'He grabbed me around the neck with two hands and I thought like I was going to die'," he told the PCC in an interview. "On the video recording, the evidence recording, she's screaming the whole time, "You can't scream and die at the same time." The man also made a complaint to the Independent Police Conduct Authority about his arrest and the refusal of police officers to take his concerns about his partner seriously. The man said, if he were working on an ambulance with another paramedic, there would be no reason why a patient wouldn't be able to trust him. Since the offending, he's engaged in non-violence programmes and therapy, as well as entering into a new relationship. The tribunal held a hearing into the man's conduct late last year and, in a recently-released ruling, said it was satisfied that the reputation of paramedicine was lowered as a result of his actions. In its ruling, the tribunal said the man sought to justify his actions and minimise his conduct. "During his evidence before the tribunal, there was little evidence of remorse," the tribunal said. "He repeatedly said that [his ex partner] was playing the victim." Despite this, the tribunal said potential patients of health practitioners who had engaged in family violence were not necessarily in danger from them. However, the tribunal noted that the work of a paramedic involved teamwork and high levels of trust between colleagues, and between police and the fire service at callouts, including ones involving domestic violence. "The lack of respect [the man] showed the police raises serious questions for the tribunal about his ability to work alongside the police in challenging situations. "[He] should not underestimate the levels of discomfort many women feel when in the presence of someone with a history such as his. This applies to his colleagues and health consumers." The tribunal opted to cancel his registration with the Paramedics Council and forbid him from re-registering for at least two years, and ordered him to pay costs of $26,000. However, this cancellation did not prevent the man from working as an Emergency Medical Technician, the tribunal conceded, noting that the role was similar to that of a paramedic, but didn't require registration. EMTs often assist paramedics, who have more advanced training and can take on more complex medical care. The man declined to comment to NZME. * This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
CBC
15-05-2025
- CBC
Chatham OPP constable in manslaughter trial says his gun went off — but he doesn't know how
OPP Const. Sean O'Rourke is on trial for manslaughter in the shooting death of 24-year-old Nicholas Grieves. On the fourth day of the trial, the court heard from O'Rourke himself on his actions in the early hours of July 7, 2021. The CBC's Pratyush Dayal reports.
