Greg Turner's widow Bridget warns other paramedics could be in danger

Front line emergency workers see allot of messed up stuff, over time it can take a very heavy toll on a person's 'happiness'. I have always thought, all front line workers should have access to counselling right from day one...early intervention with coping techniques can go a very long way in helping with keeping the demons away.

As someone who is not a front line emergency worker, but may one day depend on them to help me or my family, I think we owe it to them to take a very deep, hard and serious look at this. There are tools out there that can help and we should be making every effort to ensure that all front line workers get access to them. Even making them mandatory, lets be serious many people don't see mental illness as a 'real' problem even for themselves....

Forgive me if I take issue with the trendy diagnosis of "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder".

Sounds to me like there was nothing "Post" about it at all. The poor man had old school battle fatigue which you get when there's just never an end to the stress.

It was probably nothing that 90 days of rest and relaxation wouldn't have fixed for him and the hell of it is he chose a permanent solution to what I know to be a temporary problem.

I'm left feeling sick for his wife.

If only it were that simple. This guy worked with a very old friend of mine, and was the first of two suicides in that firehouse in less than a year.

It's more than just constant stress, because the stress is not constant, it's very much impulsive. They can go a week without attending much more than a broken leg, then all of a sudden be called to the scene of an ATM where some guy has shot four of his colleagues in the head.

The part that stresses my friend out aren't those kind of calls though, it might be a call where a woman has been assaulted by a random stranger while walking home. Or where an older lady has fallen and broken her hip. Often this scenario stresses a person out in ways they don't realize. They end up getting very anxious that something like that could happen to their loved one, and it builds and builds until they just need a release. And then other such incidents start adding stress and worry over loved ones, and it eventually becomes too much to handle.

And if the province continues this trend of revoking the license of Paramedics that seek treatment, then they will have more suicides on their hands.

And from what I'm told, Mrs. Turner is a genuinely good person.

My nephew is a Paramedic in the Edmonton area. He knew/knows Greg & family. He is also of the opinion that they were a great family. I constantly worry about 'Mike' always asking him questions and watching closly as he answers. He doesn't 'hedge' with me as we have always been very close.