A local teen used his emergency-medical training to help a well-known Lac La Biche trucker who was badly hurt in a serious accident.
Evan Morin, 17, was riding his ATV to a friend’s house west of the Hamlet of Lac La Biche on the evening of Jan. 27 when he heard a loud boom from the highway. He looked over to the road to see the tail end of a semi hit a pickup truck – then the whole scene disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Morin and his friend jumped on their quads and sped over to the accident, not knowing what they would see.
“I didn’t know if they were going to be alive or dead,” Morin said. “It was such a loud crash and there was so much smoke.”
When they got to the scene they saw Billy Taha, a well-known local man with his own trucking company, sitting on the side of the cab of his flipped big rig. Taha was badly shaken up and asked the boys to move him to the ground. Morin, who had taken an Emergency Medical Response course at J. A. Williams High School in the spring and another at Portage College in the summer, knew exactly what to do.
“I called the ambulance and just starting talking with Billy – told him to stay where he was because I knew if he had any spinal injuries then moving him would be the worst thing to do,” Morin said. “He was having trouble breathing and he told me he had a hole in his back. I knew it was serious.”
Morin stayed by Taha’s side, talking with him and making sure he didn’t fall asleep – which would be a serious situation if Taha had a concussion. The two teens stayed at the scene until the ambulance arrived, helping when the emergency responders and fire trucks arrived.
Taha’s wife Hanna Taha said her husband spent a week in intensive care in an Edmonton hospital, and that he’s now doing much better.
“I wasn’t even aware that this young man had helped Billy,” his wife said. “I’m very thankful for their help and how they were there for him. He’s going to need some time to get well again. But I’d like to thank everyone for their assistance and prayers.”
Morin and his mother Debra Foster moved to Lac La Biche six years ago from Edmonton. Foster said Taha was one of the first people from the community they met, and the family considers him a friend.
“I’m really proud of my son,” Foster said. “He was able to help in such a serious accident, especially with someone we knew. The fact that he wasn’t moved makes a big difference – it might have helped to save his spine.”
Morin is currently getting his tickets to be able to work in the oil patch, and said he’s not sure if a career in medicine will be in his future. But he said he was glad he had the training to help when the worst happened.
“I learned that I could stay calm and control a scene,” Morin said. “I’m a pretty calm kid in general, but I’ll always remember what I can do if I need to.”
JAWS offers an EMR course, which teaches students first aid and how to use some emergency medical equipment. That course can be transferred over to Portage College’s EMR course, which is a prerequisite for Emergency Medical Technicians.
