'Guardian angel' paramedics meet woman they saved on Saskatoon street

Nicole Craig doesn't remember much before or after she collapsed in cardiac arrest in downtown Saskatoon last month.

But she does know who saved her life: Paramedics Matt McGurk and Mitch Sparrow.

"I have a different name for Matt and Mitch. They're my guardian angels," Craig said on Tuesday, when she met the two men for the first time since the medical emergency.

Medavie Health Services West organized the Tuesday morning meeting to kick off Paramedic Services Week and highlight the work of people who are often the first on scene in medical emergencies.

Last month, 45-year-old Craig was out of the office for a business meeting when she collapsed on the street. A colleague called 911. Medavie paramedics McGurk and Sparrow were only a block away and quickly got to the scene.

They started with two rounds of CPR, then shocked Craig twice with defibrillators. They got a pulse back. Craig was rushed to hospital for emergency cardiac surgery. 

Craig said her physical recovery is going well, but the emotional trauma lingers. She says she's learning to be more present, to appreciate life in different ways. 

Just like their patients, paramedics are often faced with the mental health fallout of being in the middle of medical emergencies. But it hasn't always been easy to talk about it in the industry.

"It used to be, buck up and do the next call sort of thing. We have a lot of preventive education now. Every person takes mental health awareness training," McGurk said.

"We're getting to the point where the industry and its practitioners are starting to say, 'It's ok for me to say I'm not OK.' I wouldn't have said that five years ago."

Craig's recovery includes learning about her health, such as how symptoms of heart trouble are different for women and men.

Craig has no history of heart issues, has a healthy diet and exercises. She felt lightheaded before her meeting in the morning, but chalked it up to skipping breakfast.

"As women, we need to be more aware of our bodies and not ignore things. We think, 'Oh I'll get to that later.' But 'later' happened on the street of downtown Saskatoon."

McGurk and Sparrow were excited to meet Craig. They don't often get to meet the people whose lives they saved.