Wounded Warriors host retreat for bus crash first responders
SASKATOON A national agency is organizing a weekend retreat for the emergency responders who attended at the scene of the Humboldt bus crash as a way to help the healing process.
Wounded Warriors Canada is an organization that assists veterans and first responders in dealing with their mental health after experiencing traumatic events, without having to go through a medical referral. The organization is hosting a special retreat at the Elk Ridge Resort in Waskesiu from today until Thursday in support of the Saskatchewan first responders.
Phil Ralph, the national program director for Wounded Warriors Canada, said there isn’t enough support available for first responders who worked incidents like the bus collision.
“First responders ... have a significant challenge, in the amount of resources that are available for mental health,” Ralph said. “There’s a huge gap between what is needed and what’s available, especially in smaller communities like Nipawin and Humboldt.”
Ralph said that a number of first responders to the bus crash in April came from the emergency medical services in nearby Nipawin. He also said those “smaller communities” don’t have the capacity to access the kind of “clinical programming ” that first responders may need.
The event at Waskesiu is called a “Tribute To Your Service” and will be hosted by Wounded Warriors Canada. The organization has hosted similar events across the country in towns like Whistler, B.C. and St. Andrews, N.B., and Ralph said they had already been planning a tribute event for Saskatchewan first responders before the bus crash.
Ralph said the retreat does not feature any programming like counselling or therapy.
“There’s information available ... should they wish to take advantage of it,” he said. “but it’s really a place to say thank you.”
After the crash, Ralph said the organization wanted to focus the event more closely on the people who responded there. Wounded Warriors Canada helped organize a fund to support the first responders who attended the scene of the Broncos bus collision.
“In the province of Saskatchewan, we had amazing support for ... our fund. So we’re using that fund specifically to address any needs that come out of the Humboldt bus tragedy,” Ralph said.