Bruce Eccles' Body Beat up but His Spirit Is Unbroken - Metroland Halton Division

Bruce Eccles' body beat up but his spirit is unbroken - Metroland – Halton Division

Byline: DEBRA DOWNEY, SENIOR EDITOR

Publication: Metroland – Halton Division

Date: Thursday April 28th, 2011

Bruce Eccles knew the odds were not in his favour, not even tilted slightly in his direction.

At mid-afternoon on a beautiful fall day, blue sky with not a cloud in sight, a 3,000-pound vehicle had in the blink of an eye appeared directly in front of Eccles' dual-sport Honda motorcycle. The car was less than 10 feet away; Eccles was travelling 30 to 35 km-h.

"I'm dead, there's no way..." Eccles said of his thoughts at the time. "I knew I didn't stand a chance."

Eccles' motorcycle slammed into the vehicle on the rural northern Ontario road. He was catapulted over the motorcycle handlebars, snapping both legs and shattering his right knee before hurtling through the air and landing with a thud on the car. Eccles broke a wrist and finger, and suffered soft tissue damage in his shoulder.

It couldn't get any worse, but it did. Eccles flopped off the car, smacked the ground. His neck and thumb broken.

The long-time Dundas business owner lay in the dirt, squinting up at the sky. Still blue; not a cloud in sight. He had no pain, not quite yet.

"Oh," he thought. "I'm still alive." And as the dust quite literally settled on that Magnetawan Township roadway, outrage seeped into Eccles' consciousness.

A careless driver had ruined his reunion motorcycle ride with buddies, who, after spending a day on the trails, anticipated devouring juicy, barbecued steaks, sharing a bottle of wine and boasting about the halcyon days of their youth.

Eccles hadn't met his maker on that sparkling, autumn day, and now he was outraged at the driver who ruined his plans.

He intended to pick himself up, dust himself off and give the driver a no-holds-barred lesson on exiting private driveways.

He formulated his words, and what followed might be comical if not for the extent of Eccles' injuries.

The Ancaster resident tried to scramble to his feet, give the driver a piece of his mind. He never made it, didn't even get off the ground.

"I couldn't stand, both my legs were broken and my knee was shattered. I wasn't going anywhere.

It was the most pain I have ever experienced," said Eccles. "Then the shock set in. I knew I was really beat up, and I started to feel numb."

Eccles was conscious as paramedics arrived to gingerly manouevre his body onto a back board and strap his head securely in place. At Parry Sound General Hospital, he was examined "bumper to bumper." A doctor with a grave face advised: "You're far too beat up for this hospital. We have to get you to a trauma centre."

It was cold, really cold, on that Oct. 7, 2010, ride by air ambulance to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto.

No azure blue sky; clouds in sight.

At Sunnybrook, there were days when no one was sure Eccles would live to see another day.

Medical personnel noticed his oxygen level was dropping. Marrow from his broken knee was seeping into his blood stream.

Eccles was intubated and rushed into a sixhour surgery.

He was on life support for seven days that he describes as "a dark week." He was hallucinating, not sure what was real and what wasn't.

• • •

Six months later, Bruce Eccles hobbles into his office at Eccles Auto Service, a cane close at hand as he reclines in his desk chair. He's been to hell and back on an arduous journey to get back on his feet.

But he has something he wants to say to the community that has helped him inch toward recovery.

First and foremost, a huge thank you to everyone who sent cards or emails offering their best wishes and prayers, from church and service groups, to fellow merchants and Rotarians in Canada and the United States.

Thanks also for the support shown his family and the staff at his business, and thanks to a Canadian health-care system that brought him from the brink of death back to Dundas.

"I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have survived that accident," he said. "I received hundreds and hundreds of cards.

It's really humbling, it's overwhelming. I don't even know the right words to describe it...it all helps you get better.

I had a really good support crew." For the most part, Eccles is once again fit as a fiddle. Doctors have told him the only ongoing problem is his right knee. It was so badly shattered a knee replacement is recommended.

Eccles knows he has to do it, but truth be told, he's had his fill of hospitals.

Don't misunderstand; he was treated well. But little things take on a huge significance when you're sporting a stabilizing halo 24/7 for 13 weeks - things like using the washroom on your own, sleeping in your own bed, putting on your shoes, shaving and the absolute thrill of taking a shower.

Eccles spent three weeks at Sunnybrook, followed by another six at Hamilton General. He did physiotherapy four days a week, participated in pool programs and worked out in the gym, all with the assistance of medical personnel he describes as second to none.

People, he said, often heap criticism on Canada's health-care system, but Eccles knows he wouldn't be around to share his story if not for the dedicated people he encountered after his accident.

"I know people criticize our health-care system, but from being picked up on that dirt road to the day I was discharged, I got nothing but excellent care," he said. "And nurses, they're really, really special people.

They don't know you from Adam when you first come in. You're a total stranger, but they treat you like a loved one."

Along with the knee problems, Eccles said he tires very easily.

By about 3 p.m. each day, he is exhausted and needs a nap. He is not sure when, if ever, he will return to work.

His brain, however, is going a "hundred miles an hour." He nearly lost his life on that seemingly gilded, fall day in the north. It has changed him, irrevocably and forever.

There is an urgency in every day, every moment, every breath.

"If you have things you want to do, your Bucket List if you will, do it, do it now. Don't hold back because you don't ever know when the opportunity will disappear forever."

Unintentional child injuries, deaths can be prevented, public health researchers say - Science Daily

Publication: Science Daily

Date: Friday April 29th, 2011

Audience: 2417000

ScienceDaily (Apr. 29, 2011) — Patricia Schnitzer, associate professor in the MU Sinclair School of Nursing, says that most unintentional child injury deaths of young children result from inadequate supervision or failure to protect children from harm. Although injuries to children may be unintentional, they can be prevented and should not be considered accidents.

"Persistent references to tragic, freak, and horrible accidents indicate there is still important work needed to frame unintentional injuries as preventable," Schnitzer said. "Understanding and addressing social norms about the circumstances for child injuries -- such as safe sleep environments for infants and the use of car seats, helmets and other safety devices -- is important to creating effective prevention strategies."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 7.1 million injury-related emergency department visits are made by children younger than 15 each year. In previous research, Schnitzer found that the majority of injuries to young children are not the result of physical abuse but are rather unintentional injuries including suffocation, being burned, ingestion of harmful substances, resulting from inadequate supervision. She encourages increased awareness by health care providers, social workers and others who work with families to identify children at risk of injury and provide interventions to help parents reduce injuries.

"What we know is that child injuries can be prevented," Schnitzer said. "The importance of intervention is huge; recognizing at-risk families -- those with low-income or education levels, and young or single parents -- can help care providers take proper action. Public health professionals, social workers and other care professionals can recommend parenting services and consider making reports to social services or family support agencies if inadequate supervision is suspected."

Parents, professionals and caregivers need to work together to facilitate injury prevention with the knowledge that injuries are preventable, Schnitzer said. Efforts aimed at improving caregiver skills can reduce unintentional harm to children.

Currently there are no published guidelines for child supervision, beyond recommendations for constant supervision of toddlers and infants. Schnitzer and other researchers are developing strategies to help parents realistically provide adequate supervision for their children.

Schnitzer's most recent study, "Assessment of caregiver responsibility in unintentional child injury deaths: challenges for injury prevention," included surveys of child death review team members. Child death reviews are conducted by multidisciplinary teams that share information about the circumstances of child deaths, with one goal being to prevent future deaths. Supervision levels, failure to use safety devices, intent and patterns of previous neglectful behavior influenced reviewers' assessments of caregiver responsibility for unintentional injury deaths. The findings offer insights into how child death review teams might incorporate injury prevention messages and actions more effectively.

The study, published in Injury Prevention, was co-authored by Theresa Covington, director of the National Center for Child Death Review at the Michigan Public Health Institute, and Robin Kruse, research associate professor in the MU Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Workplace safety in spotlight - Metroland – Simcoe Division

Byline: Nicole Million

Publication: Metroland – Simcoe Division

Date: Friday April 29th, 2011

MIDLAND - Johanna Fisher knows the devastation of losing a child; she also knows what it's like to make it through the heartbreak and come out on the other side.

Fisher's son Micheal died as the result of a workplace injury five years ago this past January. He was just 22.

Micheal, employed in the roofing industry, was climbing a ladder against an almost three-storey building when he slipped and fell from the top.

"He basically landed on his head and sustained a severe head injury and was in a coma for six days before he died," Fisher said.

"It completely blew my world apart. There were a couple of years where it completely altered my life. I had memory problems; I was in very deep grief; it affected my work, relationships with family and friends."

But then Fisher came across an organization called Threads of Life that offers family support programs and services. It was her involvement with that organization, she noted, that really started her on the path to healing.

"Being able to support other families make their way through the system and the emotional process helped me," she said. "Being involved in the (organization's) speakers bureau to try to help it from happening to other families gave me a purpose again.

"I think you need to do something positive in order to overcome the devastating negative of losing a child."

Since becoming involved with Threads of Life, Fisher has become a speaker who goes to workplaces to talk about onthe-job injury prevention.

"There's been a definite increase of workplaces looking for people like us to come and speak to their workers and speak to their supervisors to create that impact that 'Wow, this happens to real people and it could happen to me to' kind of mentality.

I believe there's been an improvement in the way people look at workplace safety and injury prevention."

She recently become involved with the Midland and area Steps for Life event - a five-kilometre walk being held Sunday in an attempt to raise awareness of workplace safety and injury prevention. The event is also Threads of Life's annual fundraiser.

Last year, the event saw approximately 60 participants raise more than $3,000.

"It was a very good turnout given it was the first year in the area. We were very happy with it," she said.

"We would love to see an increase to about 100 walkers and, hopefully, increase our fundraiser goals this year."

Registration for the event will begin at 10 a.m. at Pete Pettersen Park. The opening ceremonies are slated to begin at 10:45 a.m., followed by the walk at 11 a.m.