(L-R) Red Deer Zone ski patrollers Jenny Peterson, David Foret, Sean Grainger, Sheri Blake, and Rick Lawrence receiving their Lifesaving Award by the Zone. (Supplied)

By Alessia Proietti

Canyon Ski Hill volunteers

Six local ski patrollers win award for saving a life

May 1, 2023 | 4:12 PM

Six local volunteer ski patrollers were given a prestigious award for saving a life this season.

The recipients received the Lifesaving Award from the Canadian Ski Patrol’s (CSP) Red Deer Zone on April 22 at their annual end-of-season banquet, held at the Cormack Armoury (4402 55 St).

Zone President Jenn Normore said the recipients, Sean Grainger, Sheri Blake, David Foret, Rick Lawrence, Norm Palardy and Jenny Peterson, were given the award for their bravery and outstanding first aid skills at Red Deer’s Canyon Ski Hill.

“Each one of those six individuals played a different part in ensuring that that boy got into the hands of the STARS medics. Some had immediate hands-on first aid, and some had other duties,” she said.

Volunteering for nearly 14 years, Grainger said he was surprised, proud and humbled when he and his five colleagues received the award.

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“It’s probably one of the most rewarding volunteer positions you could imagine. It could be quite taxing and stressful at times but it’s also highly enjoyable,” he said.

While Grainger says the award is unfortunate, stemming from a life-threatening event, he added it also means that the situation ended well with a life-saving conclusion.

That day in January 2023, he said the six ski patrollers responded to a massive and complex trauma call at Canyon Ski Hill of a snowboarder injured off a jump. He said in ski patrol language, ‘stay and play’ calls mean minor injuries like a twisted ankle. However, he states this call was deemed a ‘load and go’ due to the severity.

“I’ve been in a couple of situations like that so I assumed the role of ‘check and balance’ person, I guess you could say. What’s running through our mind in that situation was, we need to act quickly and get this person to the next chain in the chain of survival as fast as possible. You don’t overthink about it too much other than what you need to do in the immediate sense and then when that’s done, you go to the next thing to successfully evacuate,” he said, adding the boy was transported by helicopter to hospital in Edmonton.

That snowboarder was Madik McKnight from Sylvan Lake. Relatives shared his story on a GoFundMe page to raise funds for the family. McKnight spent time at the Stollery Children’s Hospital as he suffered from a broken shoulder, bruised lung and severe brain trauma.

His mother, Ingrid McKnight, told rdnewsNOW in an update that Madik has just been released after spending the past two months at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital, re-learning many things from how to walk independently to teaching his right side to be dominant again with things like writing and eating. She says both his sides are almost evenly matched now in strength and movement range as physiotherapy will continue in Red Deer. Returning back to school in May, she says his academic brain has not been affected by the injuries; however, he continues to have an increase in fatigue, double vision and vocal loss that gradually continues to improve.

She adds that while Madik won’t be doing any extreme sports in the next couple of years, he is excited to one day get back on his snowboard.

“I’m so happy to hear that the patrollers involved with helping Madik are getting recognition for their excellent actions! There were some outstanding choices made that day by everyone involved and Madik has a chance of full recovery as a result,” she said.

Grainger said ski patrolling is a team effort.

“The way that things get done is by really tapping into people’s strengths and working as a team. There’s no way that one, two or even three people could have responded as successfully that day. It’s a group effort by a lot of very good people with a lot of different skills,” he said, noting that roughly 35 ski patrollers volunteer at the local hill.

Normore confirmed that she has nominated the group for the CSP’s national award, stating she is “extremely proud and honored” to have the members in her zone.

The CSP is comprised of over 4,500 volunteers in 56 zones and nine divisions. The Red Deer Zone, part of the Mountain Division, has around 60 volunteers among Red Deer ‘s Canyon Ski Resort, Medicine Hat’s Lodge Ski Area, and Castor’s Valley Ski Club.