The Hats We Wear

We all wear many hats. As employees, friends, parents, athletes, lovers, community members and more, we all have various identities that we put out to the world. Like us all, I wear more hats than just those that live on my van’s dashboard.

Uncle Al from Texas to my nephews; bowlingbybike.com to the cycling community; Prince Albert Lointease with Terlingua Burlesque; the County Window Cleaner to my clients; Captain Safety in my role as an EMT. Al, Alex, Alexander, Bowling….

Well, last night I wore a new hat, one I am proud to wear and excited to see where it will take me. Last night I worked my first on-call shift as a Crisis Intervention Volunteer with Victim Services Hastings, Prince Edward, Lennox & Addington Counties.(VSHPELA)

Victim Services agencies in Ontario were first established by the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General with a pilot project in 1987 following the 1982 national Urban Crime Survey. Respondents identified immediate, on-scene support as crucial to successfully dealing with the consequences of these awful events. Since then, often funded by the Ministry of the Attorney General, victim services agencies have been established across the Province with the goal of providing immediate, on-scene, short-term emotional support and referral services to the victims of crime and other major traumatic events. These include sudden death, suicide, homicide, human trafficking, theft/robbery, fire, sexual assault, domestic abuse, elder abuse, hate crimes and more. Typically police, EMS, fire or hospital staff contact Victim Services to respond to calls and tend to the needs of victims during these times of intense crisis.

Personally, my path to Victim Services is a long one. In the early-mid 90’s, I thought I wanted to be a cop. Although I completed the preparatory program Law & Security Administration at Algonquin College, I soon realized that policing wasn’t for me. While I volunteered with the Kanata Ontario Provincial Police(OPP) Community Police Office, my mother was a founding member of the their Victim Services Office.

Since then I’ve held a variety of jobs that have called on me to advocate for client needs including Canada’s largest mutual fund company, a Federal Member of Parliament, multiple bicycle shops and more. In all cases, my empathetic nature, my willingness to take ownership of problems and a desire to put out fires has made me successful in a variety of client service roles.

In 2015 I passed my National Registry exam and became a certified Emergency Medical Technician with Terlingua Fire and EMS(TFEMS) in Texas. With a small population in a huge geographical area, the demands made of TFEMS extend beyond the immediate fixing of life threats. With transport times to the hospital being a minimum of 90mins, often 2-3hrs, the ability to empathically engage with patients has been essential. Fortunately, my bed-side manner allowed me to excel in this role.

Back in Ontario this spring, with so many of my friends fighting on the front lines of the battle against Covid19, I felt like a bit of a jerk sitting on the sidelines doing nothing. However, without any valid Canadian/Ontario medical certifications, I wasn’t able to enter the medical field. So, I reached out to the local volunteer agency and was soon put in contact with VSHPELA. After Zoom interviews, background checks, hours and hours of online training, I am now a Crisis Intervention Volunteer.

Last night at 7pm, my bag of goodies packed, my t-shirt and name-tag ready, I started my first on-call shift with Victim Services. Just like with TFEMS, there’s a lot of sitting and waiting anxiously for the phone to ring. For my community’s sake, I am happy to say that I slept the whole night through.

This new hat is one that will undoubtedly bring huge challenges as I absorb the emotional suffering of the victims of major crime and trauma. However, with all I’ve done in life, I feel this hat is a perfect fit.