Sault EMS paramedic Gregor Thimmig is devoted to ensuring that his fallen comrades are officially honoured and remembered on a grand scale.
Thimmig is part of a nationwide group of Canadian paramedics that wants to see a Canadian Paramedic Monument erected in Ottawa.
“Canadian Police and Peace Officers have a monument in Ottawa. The Canadian Firefighters Memorial is in Ottawa. The National War Memorial for veterans is in Ottawa. Paramedics do not have a monument. We've been struggling to get something,” Thimmig told SooToday.
The Canadian Paramedic Memorial Foundation announced Jan. 23 that the National Capital Commission approved a site for the Canadian Paramedic Monument in Ottawa’s Commissioner’s Park.
The NCC approves such monuments but does not fund them.
It is estimated that the Canadian Paramedic Monument will cost $5 million to design, build, erect and unveil.
Thimmig, his fellow Canadian paramedics and their supporters have participated in several long distance bicycle rides across the country annually since 2013 to raise funds for the Canadian Paramedic Monument.
To date, over $300,000 has been raised according to the Tour Paramedic Ride website.
Thimmig got involved with the fundraiser rides beginning in 2016 while working as a paramedic in the Niagara Region.
“We had a long memorial bicycle ride from Toronto to Ottawa with a massive group of paramedics and their family members to honour the paramedics who have fallen in the line of duty or passed away because of their duty.
"There were at least 120 people in that particular ride. We had people come from B.C., from the States, from the East Coast,” Thimmig said.
There are four rides scheduled for 2025, the next Ontario ride set for Sept. 19 to 22.
“We’ve been bringing this forth more and more every year, doing the ride and talking to politicians and letting them know. We're the baby among first responders.
"In 1975 we were recognized as a profession. We went from ambulance drivers to paramedics. Not as much is known about paramedics and what we do and what we go through,” Thimmig said.
At least two Algoma District paramedics have died in the line of duty as victims of fatal collisions.
April Brydges-Hopkin, a Goulais River Volunteer Fire Department firefighter and first responder, died Oct. 20, 2002 in a collision on Highway 17 North while on her way to a call. An award was created in her honour.
Ronald Racicot of Richards Landing died August 1, 1982 when the ambulance he was driving was involved in a collision at the corner of Wellington St. E. and Pine Street in Sault Ste. Marie.
Their names will be included on the monument and are already listed on the Ontario Paramedic Association’s Paramedic Memorial Bell.
The bell includes the names of 55 fallen paramedics and it appears at Tour Paramedic Ride events.
It has also been on display at various EMS sites across Ontario, including the Sault EMS site on Old Garden River Road in the fall of 2024.
The bell has been seen by Bruce and Janet Brydges, the Goulais River parents of the late April Brydges-Hopkin.
“We've always been proud of the work she did,” Janet Brydges told SooToday.
“She loved doing what she was doing. She wanted to join the Goulais River Fire Department when she was 16. She had to wait until she was 18. Her uncles were actually some of the first ones to help erect the fire department. So it's been in the family for years, putting their time in with the department.”
Brydges said it was awe-inspiring to see her daughter’s name on the bell.
“It was sad but it was also a good feeling. It was bittersweet.”
She supports plans to create the Canadian Paramedic Monument.
“I'm very pleased. It’s an honour. It helps knowing paramedics will be remembered for what they were doing,” Brydges said.
The bell's pedestal lists the names of paramedics who have died in the line of duty.
“We ring the bell 56 times at events. We ring the bell once for each name and then we ring the bell one more time for the paramedics who suffer in silence,” Thimmig said.
The bell does not include the names of paramedics who have died by suicide.
However, those paramedics are not forgotten.
“I've lost co-workers in Niagara due to suicide,” Thimmig said.
“The amount of things that we see in our lives as paramedics is horrific. We see the worst of the worst. Some of the images are worse than the gore that you see on TV and movies and that sticks with you for quite a while, throughout life. Paramedics have a high rate of suicide because of PTSD.”
It’s a difficult job on a daily basis, Thimmig said.
“People don't realize what we go through, the dangers that we face. People think we just pick patients up and ship them off to the hospital. We don't stop.
"If there's a snow storm, we have to go. We don't know what we're walking into. We can encounter somebody who's got a gun. We rush people to the hospital but yet people don't move over for us and try to race us. That causes accidents. We've had paramedics threatened with knives.”
Thimmig said he will continue to support paramedics who suffer with mental health challenges due to the stressful nature of their occupation.
“Paramedics have taken their own lives because they didn't know how to get help. I’ll keep doing these bike rides because I might be riding with somebody I don't know, they might open up and I might be those ears to listen and help that person.”
“It’s to remember what we do, to remember the people who died in the line of duty,” Thimmig said.