Capital to Capital ride comes to Delmarva to raise awareness
First responder’s not only support the public, but are widely known for helping one another. Smack dab in the middle of EMS week, the Capital to Capital ride from Ottawa to Washington D.C. featuring First responder’s from all over Canada and America came to Delmarva.
Ottawa to D.C. is about a 600 mile trek. One normally taken by plane, but these first responder’s are tackling it by bicycle. And it’s not a straight shot either, when the idea started, Canadian organizer Norm Robillard says they wanted to join other first responder’s who also were cyclists, to have a ride that crossed the border. The idea grew, the route was extended to major cities like Boston, and coastal towns like Rehoboth Beach. The total ground covered went from nearly 600 miles, to over 1,000 miles.
All of this, for one cause. Lars Granholm, a Sussex County paramedic tells 47ABC he is a part of the Muddy Angels, who ride across America for a cause: “we ride in honor of all EMT paramedics and first responder’s that unfortunately lost their life in the line of duty” he tells 47ABC.
For this ride though, its not only for those who lost their lives, but also first responder’s who suffer from mental illness. Robillard, who is a paramedic himself tells 47ABC suicide is an “epidemic” among first responder’s. He adds “it’s sad and it’s a reality I’ve been on the job 30 years now and I’ve lost more friends that – they didn’t commit suicide necessarily but they couldn’t finish their careers because of things that went on mentally speaking.”
The 1,000 mile journey that crosses national borders is obviously no easy feat, but the riders have some inspiration. Each rider has dog tags with the names of first responder’s who lost their lives too soon. With about 900 miles in the rearview, the riders need that motivation, telling 47ABC they were exhausted and in pain.
Regardless of pain, they will keep going, because their ride is light that shines upon an often neglected topic, so these riders use their wheels to send a message. Robillard sums up the purpose of the ride ” to tell first responder’s out there that it’s okay not to be okay – we need to break down the stigma surrounding mental health – it’s not a sign of weakness to ask for health.”
The group departed from the Canadian Capital on May 7th, one month to the date that Legislators up North passed a law that would qualify first responder’s who suffer from PTSD as injury suffered on the job. Riders now hope America will adopt similar law, rather than the state by state regulations that are currently in place. The ride finishes up on Friday in Arlington Virginia at the national EMS memorial. At the finish line, families of fallen first responder’s will be inducted into the memorial.
The Code Green Campaign sponsors the event. Their Mission Statement reads: To help remove the obstacles of recognizing operational stress injuries for Police, Paramedics/EMS, Firefighters, and Emergency Communications Officers by fostering an open dialogue for education and access to mental health resources. More information can be found here: http://www.codegreencampaign.org
