The price of helping others
New book fictionalizes author’s experiences as a first responder
A former Nova Scotian paramedic and firefighter has released a novel that explores post-traumatic stress disorder on first responders and the impact their work has on families.
In Somewhere There’s Music, author Sean Paul Bedell crafts the stark comingof-age story of Joel, a shy teen who struggles to deal with his paramedic father as his work leads him into a spiral of alcohol and abuse.
“I would say I started it seven years ago,” says Bedell about the idea to write his long-awaited debut. “But over the past probably three or four years, I really focused on getting it finished, polished and published and into the world.”
Bedell says the book specifically aims to shine a spotlight on the shock and trauma first responders consistently endure — an ordeal Bedell has had to deal with.
A paramedic in Sheet Harbour and Halifax for more than a decade, Bedell says he experienced his share of shocking and tragic events.
“I guess the story has always been there but then you also need the life experiences,” says Bedell, admitting writing the book has helped him process the trauma that still affects him from time to time.
“For example, I did a very bad call when there was a particular weather pattern going on and whenever I see that type of weather now, without any invocation on my side, it just brings me right back to that call,” says Bedell. “I think, in a lot of ways, some of the vivid pieces in this story of mine helped me kind of exorcise those demons a little bit.”
An unflinching peek behind the curtain of the sacrifice first responders make everyday, Somewhere There’s Music has certainly grabbed the attention of critics and colleagues.
Russell Wangersky, awardwinning author of Burning Down the House, has praised, “Bedell’s window into the guilt that comes with helping others is clear —like an accident, you want to look away and find you can’t.”
However, Somewhere There’s Music is also a story about the families who live with such pain and as Bedell notes, his hope is the book creates an awareness and appreciation for first responders in Nova Scotia.
“We all say, ‘rah rah’ for the first responders but I think we need to know that some of them struggle,” says Bedell, who adds the ongoing inquiry into the 2020 mass murder of 22 people is a reminder of just some of the trauma Nova Scotians and first responders have faced recently.
“I think people need to understand that the people treating those that are injured, especially in the field, get injured themselves from that treatment and they need time to heal and they need some space to heal.”
With his debut novel finally in bookstores, Bedell can finally shed not only some of the scars of his past life as a first responder but he can also find joy and relief in the fact that he finally cracked his first novel after nearly a decade.
“I’m quite pleased, actually, with the response the book has been getting,” adds Bedell, who admits he discovered a new state of shock after seeing his book on display in stores for the first time.
“It’s still sinking in but it’s all good.”
For more information on Somewhere There’s Music, visit www.nonpublishing.com