SPONSORED BY ROYAL LEPAGE ADVANCE REALTY
STEVE SIERZPUTOWSKI: Steve Sierzputowski became involved in volunteering with Search & Rescue while belonging to the Venture-Scout organization in Sault Sainte Marie, Ont. way back in the early 1980s.
“My childhood friend, who had been posted here with the RCMP and had also belonged to the Sault SAR group, suggested that I join the young Campbell River SAR society since he worked with Don McInnes, one of the founding members, as a way to meet people and get involved,” Sierzputowski says, and he’s been with the organization ever since.
In his nearly 40 years with the organization, he’s seen Campbell River SAR grow from a core of six or seven to about 40 and from a call volume of 10-12 per year to over 50.
“It is very rewarding to bring peoples’ loved-ones home,” he says.
RHIANNON WAFFLE: Waffle has been a dispatcher for North Island 911 for seven years, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Sure, there are tough days,” she says, “but we have an amazing team and support system, and it’s my way of helping, which is something I think is important. We should all help a little more.”
Some might say the person taking the initial emergency call is the most important person in the chain of emergency services, but Rhiannon doesn’t see it that way at all.
“We all have to work together to be successful and we all have to do what we can do. Those guys out there who jump in the raging water or run into the fire…I couldn’t do that.”
But she can certainly get them going where they need to be when they’re needed.
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