Jan 2, 2019
We would like to thank The Casket for covering the story on the Indian Harbour Lake student receiving inaugural Helping the Helpers scholarship. A freshman nursing student at Dalhousie University in Halifax is the recipient of the inaugural Helping the Helpers scholarship.
Madison Harpell of Indian Harbour Lake receives the inaugural Helping the Helpers scholarship from John Garth MacDonald. Harpell is a freshman nursing student at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Corey LeBlanc – The Casket
“It is definitely an honour,” Madison Harpell, a graduate of St. Mary’s Academy in Sherbrooke, said.
Helping the Helpers – an Antigonish-based organization – hosts an annual post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) awareness and education day, which is focussed on front-line professionals and their families.
Veteran paramedic John Garth MacDonald, one of those at the forefront of launching and growing the organization, explained why the group decided to award the annual $500 prize to future front-line professionals.
To read all of this story from The Casket, click here.
Jul 12, 2018
The fourth annual “Helping the Helpers” Awareness and Education Day for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is this weekend. It will once again be hosted at St. FX University in the Schwartz auditorium. The event is a sell-out, with all 300 seats taken; there is a waiting list should there be any last minute cancellations.
One of the organizers of the event, John Garth MacDonald says it will be a full day of education and awareness on PTSD that affects front-line professionals, friends and peers.
To read the full article, click the link below.
Jul 12, 2018
Community advocates, health-care professionals and government officials are gathering this week for the Workplace Mental Health and PTSD Conference, a first of its kind in Nova Scotia.
“For too long mental-health injuries haven’t been discussed, or even acknowledged, in our homes, our communities, and our workplaces,” said NS Labour and Advanced Education Minister Kelly Regan in a news release.
To read the full article, click the link below
NS paramedic speaks out about PTSD
Jul 12, 2018
“It was years of trauma, suicides, car accidents, infants dying,” MacDonald, 43, said an interview Thursday. “The heartache of family members, seeing their tears. Hearing them crying, hearing them begging for help and at the end of day (what you did) didn’t work.”
In 2010, an incident involving a child precipitated a psychological crisis that was a turning point in his life. The medical term is post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, but for MacDonald, it was a nightmare of exhaustion, flashbacks and hallucinations.
To read the full article, click the link below.
When first responders need aid
Jul 12, 2018
HALIFAX, NS – Wednesday through Friday (May 24th – 26th) The Tema Conter Memorial Trust will host a variety of events and workshops in Halifax focused on the mental health, resilience, and peer & psychological support of First Responders, including nurses, Public Safety and Military Personnel and their families. Wednesday’s Common Threads conference will feature a variety of inspirational speakers including Nova Scotia’s own John Garth MacDonald who will speak about PTSD from a paramedic’s perspective. MacDonald, along with Cpl. Jamie MacWhirter (St. John’s, NL) will be named Tema Ambassadors, formally welcomed Wednesday evening by Angela Gevaudan (Moncton, NB) who was named the first Tema Ambassador in February.
To read the full article, click the link below.
Conference Dedicated to the Mental Health of First Responders Military Personnel
Jul 12, 2018
Donations are appreciated and all the proceeds with go towards this year’s Helping the Helpers event, set for October 27. There will also be a 50/50 draw. Organizers set up Helping the Helpers as a way to spread awareness and education for post-traumatic Stress disorder.
Paramedic John Garth MacDonald described Helping the Helpers as an education day that was first organized in 2014.
To read the full article, click on the link below.
Helping The Helpers Fund-Raiser Planned Friday Night
