Canadian Paramedic to Bring Back Lessons on Mental Health in EMS From Expedition

Paramedic Veronica Ryl, along with a team of others, is taking part in a multi-year project in Canada’s Arctic that will shed awareness on climate change concerns, empower young Inuit females, break world records and produce teaching moments for mental health in EMS.

The program, Sedna Expedition, is sending 12 female scientists, researchers, environmentalists and more to Iqaluit from July 25 to August 4 to pair with 12 Inuit girls to provide career mentoring, snorkeling and SCUBA lessons. The team will also conduct a program to help clean up the ocean and attach two satellite tags onto two Greenland sharks to track migration patterns, Ryl says.

In 2018 and 2019, the team will conduct a 3,000 km, record-breaking snorkel relay through the Northwest Passage and plans to stop at 10 Inuit communities along the way to deliver more education programs.

Ryl says she is honored and grateful to take part in Sedna Expedition, a program she believes is purposeful and have lasting and reverberating effects.

The goal of the program is to create more opportunity and tangible pathways to education and social support for the residents of Canada’s northern region, while also putting a focus on environmental awareness and amplifying the voices of Indigenous communities.

Ryl, who has worked in various positions in EMS for the last nine years and currently works in Edmonton and on the aboriginal reservation of Maskwacis as a paramedic, says part of her job is to provide medical assistance to anyone on the team who should need it. Also, Ryl will focus on the mental health portion of the wellness program that is delivered to the Inuit communities.

“There is a high prevalence of complex, socioeconomic and mental health issues in Canada’s northern region,” Ryl says. “This includes a suicide rate seven times higher than anywhere else in the country.”

Ryl says more awareness and social support structures need to be put in place, and working with the younger generation is a good way to implement this change.

When Ryl returns to Alberta, she hopes to integrate some lessons learned about mental health into the EMS community.

Dating back to before her start in EMS, Ryl says she has been passionate about mental health. For about three years before she joined the emergency medicine field, Ryl worked in a psychiatric hospital, which initially sparked her interest.

“When I began working in EMS, it was so obvious and eye-opening the extent to which mental health effects us all, patients and practitioners alike,” Ryl says.

She plans to implement new lessons upon her return by setting up seminars and presentations for EMS practitioners. Ryl says she is “on a quest to reduce stigma and create more conversation on the topic.”

Some progress has been made in terms of mental health since she joined the profession, but Ryl says more social support systems need to be in place for EMS practitioners.

“With such a dynamic and extremely stressful career, it is crucial that we understand our own minds, cultivate empathy for both ourselves and others and accept our own mental limitations,” Ryl says. “Things are finally changing, and it’s good.”

Ryl has also recently accepted a position as a R2MR (Road to Mental Readiness) trainer with the Alberta Health Services. This position helps deliver a program supporting mental health initiatives for practitioners throughout the Alberta area.

While currently serving as a paramedic, Ryl is also involved with the CREMS team within Alberta Health Services, a program that pairs a paramedic and mental health therapist to provide assistance to community members in their homes as opposed to transporting them to emergency departments. Ryl is also working toward a critical care certificate.

Previously, Ryl worked as an EMR for a privatized, rural company before working her way to become an EMT and eventually a paramedic. In addition to her other responsibilities, she assists with 9-1-1 Ambulance Response for Edmonton Metro and works with a team to provide in-house medical treatment to people in assisted living facilities.

Ryl is currently fundraising for the 2017 and 2018 legs of the Sedna Exploration. To learn more about her journey or to donate to her cause, visit gofundme.com/veronicaryl.

To learn more about the Sedna Expedition, visit their website at sednaepic.com.