Two Sault paramedics recently went above and beyond the call of duty in providing comfort to a local man before he passed away.
Mitchell Boyle and Jay Ceskauskas stood by Gary Duke’s stretcher and administered oxygen to him while he enjoyed watching his beloved Soo Greyhounds in action one last time as they hosted the Owen Sound Attack at GFL Memorial Gardens on Sunday, Feb. 23.
Duke, who had lived as a double lung transplant recipient for 11 years, died at ARCH on Saturday, March 1.
Paramedics typically transport sick or injured people to the nearest hospital emergency department before answering other calls. Boyle and Ceskauskas had become well acquainted with Duke through the Community Paramedic (CP) program.
The program delivers non-emergency in-home health care directly to residents in need.
The Community Paramedic program originated in 2014.
It focuses on serving older adults who have complex medical needs and face hospitalization or placement in a long-term care home. The program works with health-care providers to keep residents safe in their home for as long as possible to avoid unnecessary emergency department visits and hospital admissions.
Through regular Community Paramedic visits with clients, paramedics get to know the people they care for.
“Jay and I were going to his house a lot to check in on him and we developed a bit of a relationship,” Boyle told SooToday.
“It became clear that Gary and his wife Sherri were both fantastic people and very easy to talk to. We were able to have some jokes, have some laughs.
"It was always a pleasure to go see them because they made you feel welcome. They were always always just wonderful to be around and sit with and speak with,” Ceskauskas said.
Through their visits, Boyle and Ceskauskas learned of Gary and Sherri Duke’s shared passion for Soo Greyhounds hockey.
“They were both big hockey fans and as things started to deteriorate with Gary’s condition, he talked a few times about wanting to get out to a game. That was something they enjoyed doing together as season ticket holders," Boyle said.
"Jay approached me with the idea of getting him to one last Greyhound game.”
The two paramedics put the wheels in motion to make that last game a reality.
“I figured ‘let's start looking into this’ and I approached our chief (Kate Kirkham) and fortunately she was very much on board and very supportive of the idea. It was a unique circumstance but we were able to make it happen for him. It was fantastic,” Ceskauskas said.
On game day, the Hounds high-fived Gary as they made their way from their locker room to the ice.
He was gifted with a Soo Greyhounds jersey by Sault EMS paramedics and Hounds centre Owen Allard signed a hat for him.
Boyle and Ceskauskas stood by Gary and administered oxygen as he watched the game from a stretcher on the GFL Memorial Gardens upper concourse, surrounded by his wife and granddaughters.
The Hounds lost 4-3 to Owen Sound in overtime but that loss was eclipsed by the delight of seeing Gary enjoy the game with his family.
“For me, it was extremely heartwarming. It was special to be able to provide someone with such a memorable experience,” Boyle said.
The two men said everything came together smoothly in getting Gary to the Hounds game.
“It's not something that we normally do, but we saw an opportunity here to do something good for Gary and his family and we feel fortunate we achieved that,” Ceskauskas said.
Sherri voiced her appreciation for the two paramedics’ efforts.
“I can't say enough about Mitch and Jay and the Community Paramedic program,” she said.
“One day, Jay was here checking on Gary and he asked me if there was anything that he could do for him.
"I said I would love to get him to a Hound's game. Jay said ‘I don't know if we can do that, but leave it with me, let me see.’ We were season ticket holders and he hadn’t been able to go to a game for about a year and a half.
"The only place he went was from home by ambulance to the hospital. I couldn't get him anywhere because he was on too high an amount of oxygen," Sherri said.
She said the Greyhound game experience is something Gary enjoyed, resulting from an act of kindness by the two paramedics.
Sherri believes the act of kindness will never be forgotten and will always appreciated by the Duke family.
“It's a memory that our granddaughters will have. These guys did this for their grandfather, something that they didn't have to do. Chief Katie could have said no, but Chief Katie jumped on it. She's been amazing too.
"I just can't say enough good about what they did,” Sherri said.
Boyle and Ceskauskas attended Gary's celebration of life.
Sherri praised the Community Paramedic program.
“The program is such a Godsend to so many people. They weren't there just for Gary. They were there for me too, so that really helped.”
There is a possibility similar good deeds - above and beyond the call of duty - may be repeated through the program.
“We haven’t done this before but we've seen other paramedic services do stuff like this around the province and it's something we've been chatting back and forth about. It might be something that we look into potentially doing more of in the future,” Boyle said.