Success Stories
A Big Thank-You to EMS
Story republished from The Current, issued December 2008
Glenn Allan can't tell you very much about January 29, 2008 and not because it's more than 11 months ago.
It's because he nearly didn't survive to see January 30.
"I had just watched Sportscentre to get the hockey scores. I put out my cigarette and I can remember the motion to stand up – the physical getting-up – and that's it," he says. "I don't remember anything after that for about a week. It happened just like that."
It was around 1 a.m. on January 29 when Glenn suffered a cardiac arrest, falling straight to the floor as he got up from the couch to walk to his bed.
"My family heard the bang from upstairs," says Glenn, 57. "My wife (Nancy) was in the room with me downstairs and she yelled out to my daughter to call 911 and then my daughter came downstairs and immediately started CPR."
His 22-year-old daughter, Heather, had taken First Aid and CPR training as part of a Red Cross babysitter's course as a youth and had recently taken a refresher course in CPR training. Glenn says her training, as well as the quick response by Peace Country Health EMS, are among the reasons why he's able to tell his story today.
"I think I was dead when EMS got to my house. When I found that out later, it nearly frightened me to death. That's what scares me the most – the fact I died," he says, adding with a smile, "But now I'm not dead."
And for that, he wanted to make sure he offered his gratitude to those who helped him survive and recover from that nearly fateful night. On October 21, he visited the EMS station in Grande Prairie to thank its staff as well as the two paramedics who arrived on scene that night – Doug Christian and Dawn Brownschlaigle.
"I just wanted to come by and offer my sincere thanks to the people who are here and the people who were there that night helping me," he says. "The fact that they've made it their mission in life to take on the training and the responsibility that goes with jobs like theirs is very important."
About two days after his heart attack, Glenn was transferred to a hospital in Edmonton in a coma. On Feb. 16, a pacemaker and a defibrillator were installed on his heart (the former kicks in if his heart is beating too slow, the latter if it's too fast).
Before his heart attack, Glenn commuted back and forth as an environmental technician with an oil sands company in Fort McMurray. He hasn't returned to work yet but hopes to before the end of the year.
In the meantime, he's quit smoking and regularly attends cardiac rehabilitation sessions at the QEII Hospital. And, as he continues down the road to recovery, he continues to count his blessings.
"To me, I've been given a second chance at life and I owe it primarily to my family and to the paramedics."