Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) James Schmit has been honoured with a Stars of Life Award for his outstanding achievement, exemplary service and commitment to Emergency Medical Services.

“It was quite a surprise to me,” said Schmit, noting he received a letter from Saskatchewan Emergency Medical Services Association president Steve Skoworodko informing him he won the award only two weeks before the presentation. “I think there was eight or nine of these awarded in the province this year. There is (only) one of these awards in the Heartland Health Region and I received it.”

Saskatchewan Lieutenant Governor Vaughn Solomon Schofield presented Schmit with the glass sculpture award at Government House in Regina on June 19. He has been an EMR with the Davidson EMS (Emergency Medical Services) for the past 11 years.

As a responder, Schmit has provided pre-hospital emergency care to citizens in need from Chamberlain in the south to a couple miles north of Kenaston as well as from Lake Diefenbaker in the west to halfway between Davidson and Imperial to the east.

Davidson EMS coordinator Adrian Schmiedge nominated Schmit for the award because of his passionate dedication to the service. He said the Davidson EMS would not be what it is today without Schmit’s involvement.

“These awards get sent out for people who have done extra, have done a lot of work for their community, and I nominated him because he has done so much work for EMS,” said Schmiedge. “He has always been available when we need him. He has another job (at C & M Motors) he has to worry about, but he still makes time to be on-call for us when we need him which is very often.”

Schmit describes his job as an EMR as a cross between “intense boredom and sheer terror,” but he is proud to do it because it gives him another opportunity to help those who might need it.

“I’ve always volunteered within the community,” he said. “I’ve been with the fire department here for 33 years. This is something that the community needs and I believe in the community and in small towns.”

A rare virus has killed one person in the Heartland Health Region this summer while another death in the region is being investigated to determine if the same virus is the culprit.

Phil Curry, zoonotic diseases consultant with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health, said complications from hantavirus has been confirmed by health officials as the cause of death in the first west central Saskatchewan case. He said hantavirus is caused by exposure to airborne particles from the droppings, urine and saliva of infected deer mice, so people need to be careful when cleaning up areas that might have had a mouse infestation over the winter months.

“Deer mice are found throughout Saskatchewan, but they’re more common in rural and semi-rural areas,” said Curry, noting hantavirus has been detected in many samples of deer mice in southern Saskatchewan this year. “They put their nests in stumps, hollow tree cavities, under logs, abandoned bird nests and manmade structures such as wood piles and old cars. They might even enter buildings like garages and homes later in the fall when the weather turns cool. If you think of a lot of areas like farms or small rural communities you’ve got nature right next door to you and deer mice are one of the more common mice in those areas.”

A deer mouse can be distinguished from the common house mouse because of its two-tone colour. The deer mouse has a dark brown back and a white belly, feet and under-tail, while a house mouse is uni-coloured.

Curry said deer mice infected with this strain of hantavirus is “pretty exclusive” to Western North America and the Prairie Provinces. He said since the virus was first characterized in 1994 there have been 24 reported cases of hantavirus in Saskatchewan with seven of them proving fatal.

“It’s important to note too that we basically tend to see the more severe cases and not everybody gets a severe case,” he said. “There is a lot that we don’t know about it. It seems to affect all age groups, so it’s not just people with compromised immune systems. It can affect anybody including young healthy working adults.”

Common symptoms of hantavirus in humans include fever, muscle aches, cough, headaches, nausea and vomiting. If a person develops a fever, cough and shortness of breath within one to six weeks of exposure to a mouse-infested area, immediate medical attention is required.

“Hantavirus is widespread, the actual virus in mice,” said Curry. “We’re asking people to make sure they take precautions when they clean out a building. It’s very important to ventilate a building properly. It is very important not to stir up the dust and breath in the dust particles, so wear gloves, wet mop the area down, don’t use a vacuum cleaner and don’t use an air hose or sweep vigorously. Then you can disinfect the area with one-part-to-10 of bleach.

“For more heavier infestations, it is advised that you take more precautions like wearing coveralls, gloves, and maybe even a mask and eye goggles if you’re cleaning overhead on shelves and things like that. You don’t want the dust to fall in your eyes.”

Another school year is coming to an end for students and teachers at Davidson School this Wednesday, but this time the usual jubilation is tempered with heavy hearts.

Longtime Grade 1 teacher Norma Gregoire is retiring after spending the past 32 years at Davidson School. Gregoire said she had to retire sometime and this will give her more time to spend with her family.

“Although teaching has been my calling and I feel I could teach many more children to read, it’s the right time for me to retire,” said Gregoire. “I have a new grandson, Elliot, in Yorkton and my husband (Mark) is happy that I am going to spend more time with him.”

At the school’s annual awards presentation last Wednesday afternoon, current students at the school showed their appreciation for her help in teaching them how to read by lining up to give her one last hug.

“That was so amazing,” she said. “That wasn’t even planned and I fell apart. It is just amazing to get all those hugs.”

In addition to the hugs at the awards presentation, Gregoire was given a “memory box” that included notes from past and present students which detail the many wonderful moments they have spent in her care. A few hours later at the School Community Council’s annual end-of-year potluck supper, she was also presented with a honourary bookshelf filled with her favourite children’s books that would be placed in the Davidson School library.

“I love books,” said Gregoire. “One of the memories I got in that little memory box from one of my kids is a thank you for teaching (her) how to read books. I love children’s books and I love reading to kids. It couldn’t have been a better gift.”

In a funny way, the bookshelf actually serves as a bookend to Gregoire’s career. After graduating from Brandon University in Brandon, Manitoba, in the mid-1970s she was presented with the Grolier of Canada Award, which was given to one graduate at each education department in a Canadian university for being the most promising teacher to be. The award was three sets of encyclopedias in a bookcase, so it seems her career has come full circle.

To read more please see the June 24 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Brad Johner and the Johner Boys are set to rock Elbow this Canada Day.

Johner said fans heading to the Elbow Rink for the before-fireworks concert can expect a “fun” country and pop show that could feature as many as five of his boys and one of their friends up on stage with him at the same time. He said the Johner Boys first joined him on stage last year for 25 concert dates and this year would see them perform together close to 60 times.

“We’ll do some of my stuff and the boys do their own music as well,” said Johner. “It’s a nice variety and it’s a nice family show. I do some classic country songs. I do some of my songs that have been on the radio for the past 20 years and then the boys do some covers like Bruno Mars, Jason Mraz and Michael Jackson. It’s just a lot of fun stuff.”

The Johner Boys are Brad’s sons Aidan, 8, Matthew, 11, Quinn, 15, Jesse, 17, and Lucas, 19, and their friend Simon, 19. Aidan and Matthew play piano, Quinn dabbles in electric guitar, piano and lead and harmony vocals, Jesse hits the drums, and Lucas plays piano and sings lead and harmony, while Simon is a bass and electric guitar player.

Johner, a fixture on the country music scene in Canada and Saskatchewan since 1991, said he loves taking the stage with his boys and the boys appreciate the opportunity to get out and play some music as well. The four-time Juno nominee and 2007 Canadian Country Music Association male artist of the year said there are not a lot of venues out there right now for kids to take the stage, so using his job as an entertainer to help them get a start is very rewarding.

“It is kind of unheard-of for young people to go out and start playing music and doing concerts on a full-time basis, so they really appreciate that idea that they can go out and play with me,” he said. “I’ve been doing this all my life, so I sort of know what I’m doing and they just like coming along and learning how to do it. They have a great time meeting people and travelling and we all have a good time.”

Johner said after their touring schedule slows down at the beginning of the school year in September, he and his boys are going to be heading into the recording studio “when we have time” to record their first album together. He said until then they’re just going to be continually hitting stages across the province and the country while trying to enjoy their time together.

“It’s real fun playing with the boys. We’ve worked hard the last year getting our sound down and the boys are learning how to play on stage. They’ve come along really well and the response from the public has been great.”