Paul Franklin: A Canadian medic/writer/blogger you should read

I had bookmarked this site long ago, and just today made time to go check it out.

MCpl Franklin's story is nothing short of amazing:

Paul Franklin was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and raised in Calgary, Alberta. ... He joined the Canadian military in 1999, posted to 1 Field Ambulance in Edmonton, Alberta. He developed a successful career in the military as a company Emergency Medical Technician, and continually pushed himself to pursue higher-level military medical training. He effectively used his skills and experience to organize Tactical Combat Casualty Care courses and advanced Combat Related First Aid for infantry soldiers. These courses allowed the soldiers to effectively take that knowledge into battle to save lives. He also completed various levels of medical training including Basic Traumatic Life Support, Advanced first aid, and stress intervention debriefer, always looking to improve his skills and knowledge to better assist others.

His experiences in the military included Operational Tours, military instruction in both medical and military courses, and outdoor leadership skills. He had several tours of duty including providing aid during the 2003 forest fires in British Columbia, an Arctic sovereignty operation in 2004, and two tours in Afghanistan in 2004 and 2005. During his second tour to Afghanistan in the southern province of Kandahar, Mcpl Franklin worked as a medical technician within an infantry section of the Provincial Reconstruction Team. Working in village medical clinics, teaching and re-valuating medical skills of his fellow soldiers and working under fire from the enemy, Mcpl Franklin was inspired by the Afghan people.

On January 15, 2006 a suicide bomber attacked Mcpl Franklin's convoy. This event changed his life in an instant. Mcpl Franklin found himself lying against a wall with his left leg gone and the right leg destroyed. A fellow soldier, that he had just taught, put on the tourniquet that saved his life....

There is much more about Franklin here.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Honouring Canadians troops in life, not just in death

Honouring Canadians troops in life, not just in death

By MERCEDES STEPHENSON, QMI AGENCY

February 20, 2011

I will never forget the young Canadian medic who sat across from me in a light armoured vehicle (LAV) barely more than a year ago as we rumbled across the Afghan countryside.

He was “kitted out,” as soldiers say, like the Michelin man.

Every free inch of space on his torso was covered in medical supplies.

He was carrying so much stuff you could barely see his uniform on the top half of his body.

There was an important reason for every single item. A lifesaving reason.

Scissors, he explained, to cut through the tough fabric of uniforms to get to deadly wounds quickly; large tubes designed to be shoved into collapsed and bleeding lungs after an IED inflicts the horrific injuries on a body; and tourniquets (never used in Canada but always in Afghanistan) to stop the bleeding from lost legs and arms....(Much more here)

That is the beginning of Franklin's most recent column. Take the time, as I did, to go check out this medic's story, and read some of his previous columns.

Go HERE now!