A Huron County paramedic is celebrating a half-century on the front lines.
Gary Renaud began working in the field in his early 20s, shortly after he moved to Goderich.
He says he was teaching first aid in the area, which led to him getting hired on with the Alexandra Marine and General Hospital, where he remained until the paramedic service was downloaded to the county level.
The 50-year milestone is made all the more impressive considering the amount of turnover there is in paramedicine.
"When I started, the ministry said every five years, we turn over the total number of paramedics in the field in Ontario," said Renaud. "You know, there's many days you look and say 'Do I want to do this tomorrow or not?' It's not for everybody, it's a hard field, it's hard on your family, it's hard on your situation. When I started, we did eight hours on duty and 16-hour call-back. And we did that day after day, so it's not really like 50 years, it's like 70 or 80 years on the job."
The difference in scheduling is just one of the many things that has changed over Renaud's time. Advancements in technology have greatly helped improve efficiency in all areas of the job.
During those call-back hours when Renaud first started, he recalls being afraid to leave home, as that was the only way his employers could get in touch with him.
"I remember one day before the pagers, I was at church in a nice new three-piece suit and an officer came running into the church and said 'Gary, we need him to respond.' So I went to respond and it was a guy who had fallen off a ladder with paint, and he's covered in paint and I'm in my nice new suit and I look at him and say 'You're going to tell me it's not oil-based.' And he says 'Yes it is,'" laughed Renaud, who noted the man survived.
Though it is draining and difficult job, Renaud has plenty of stories from over the years that bring a smile to his face. From the time a family called thinking their father had passed away, only for Renaud to discover he was having a seizure, to having to do CPR on a friend several times in the days before ambulances had defibrillators on board.
He says there's certain traits you need to have to stay in this line of work.
"It's a tough field, because you have to be thick-skinned I think. You have to a wicked sense of humour, and you really have to enjoy people from there best times to their worst times," he said.
Renaud loves helping people, going so far as to volunteer to provide medical service at kids camps in his time off. He also spent years going to Costa Rica in the winter to provide medical help.
That love for aiding people means that even though he wrapped up 50 years on the job on September 20, Renaud has no plans on retiring anytime soon.
Despite the huge advances made in first response over his time, he says they're busier than ever.
"Now, you may have two to three hospitals closed at nights and weekends, so it's a bigger demand on paramedics than ever," said Rebaud. "As well as the call volume that seems to be going up, the older population in our area is drastically causing an increase in calls. Plus you have the homeless and the drug situation... so all those individuals coming in also make a large impact on EMS."
In order to help ease the load on paramedicine, he asks that people take first aid training when possible, and that they really consider if they truly need to call an ambulance, before picking up the phone.