An Edmonton paramedic told the National Citizens’ Inquiry on COVID-19 that 2021 was a bad year for strokes and seizures, even for people in their 30’s..At hearings in Red Deer April 28, Sierra Rotchford said she started to notice patterns after the 2020 lockdown..“We did quite a bit of overdoses, suicidal thoughts, some domestic abuse calls,” she said..Doctors were not allowed to see their patients in person, which led to more problems..“We had this rise in calls where people who were put on new medications were suddenly experiencing crazy medical crises, cardiac arrests, because of these new medications with no follow ups,” she recalled..Rotchford had emergency abdominal surgery that October and recognized signs of sepsis two weeks later. She went to hospital, but three doctors insisted she had COVID-19, even though a test at the hospital was negative. She was sent home. .“Once blood results had come in, they called me back and said, ‘You're going to die at home unless you come back,’” she recalled..The mother of two, first certified as a paramedic in 2012, returned to work in January 2021. For the rest of winter, she saw “more mental health calls than ever, more overdoses, especially narcotics…strokes, seizures.” By April, the trend had hit people in their 30’s..“This is the beginning of that first rollout of that category of age for AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna. I had taken people my age who were having a full, a full stroke, full paralysis, drooling to the U of A, we were taking people with chronic seizures.”.She recalled when Astra Zeneca was pulled from the market in May 2021..“On May 9, after bringing in one of three seizures that day to the U of A, there was a very senior nurse at the U of A triage who…[said we] were seeing this huge rise in blood clot injuries. And she said to me that the U of A was going to be asking the government to stop the Astra Zeneca shots. The very next day the government had pulled those shots.”.Rotchford recounted taking a “documented vaccine injury from AstraZeneca from one facility to stroke rehab. It was for a patient who was approximately 50 years old, full left side paralysis.”.The man had a “deep brain stroke.” Although his medical administration records indicated a vaccine injury, no one had told him..“[We] put him on the stretcher. He was already asking us before we even took him out of the room, ‘When can I get my next shot?’ So this patient was documented, but was not told he was a vaccine injury. We transferred him to the next facility,” she recalled..Staff at the new location weren’t forthcoming either..“They wouldn't explain it to him why he couldn't have a shot, or where they were going to get his shot, if it was going to be Pfizer or Moderna. It was just very clear at that time that some things were being tracked, but also not being passed on to the patients who suffered effects from them.”.By the first week of July 2021, it had been four to six weeks since people had received their second shots. News reports noted 1700 calls per day in Alberta, a 70% increase from normal volumes..“Every trauma room was full, every recess room was full, there were ambulances lined up down the ramp out of the hospital with patients so acute, they were already on their stretchers lined up down the ramp. There were people being told right in front of us in ER that their loved ones were dying. These were not expected deaths,” she recalled..Rotchford said she did not attend anyone who died in 2020, but in twelve shifts during Summer 2021, she attended four unexpected deaths aged 50 to 70..“These were people who died so suddenly they were sitting up watching TV across from a loved one who did not realize they passed away. They passed away walking out of their house to go to their car, not found till the next morning.”.When the vaccine mandate came, Rotchford was concerned because her sepsis had increased her risks of adverse reactions..“Throughout the mandate time, I saw a lot of discrimination against patients, a lot of harassment, bullying against coworkers, not only in the hospitals, but also on ground ambulance I saw from staff towards patients at that time.”.Rotchford and two colleagues made a presentation at the legislature to communicate that between 35 to 40 ambulances a day in Alberta were not running due to the mandates..“Some had gone off on stress leave before the end of the mandate. Our stress leave rate at EMS was 30%, and that went up to 45% in a single month from September to October.”.Through the MLA that facilitated Blatchford’s event at the legislature, she was put in touch with a doctor who granted her a medical exemption for the vaccine.
An Edmonton paramedic told the National Citizens’ Inquiry on COVID-19 that 2021 was a bad year for strokes and seizures, even for people in their 30’s..At hearings in Red Deer April 28, Sierra Rotchford said she started to notice patterns after the 2020 lockdown..“We did quite a bit of overdoses, suicidal thoughts, some domestic abuse calls,” she said..Doctors were not allowed to see their patients in person, which led to more problems..“We had this rise in calls where people who were put on new medications were suddenly experiencing crazy medical crises, cardiac arrests, because of these new medications with no follow ups,” she recalled..Rotchford had emergency abdominal surgery that October and recognized signs of sepsis two weeks later. She went to hospital, but three doctors insisted she had COVID-19, even though a test at the hospital was negative. She was sent home. .“Once blood results had come in, they called me back and said, ‘You're going to die at home unless you come back,’” she recalled..The mother of two, first certified as a paramedic in 2012, returned to work in January 2021. For the rest of winter, she saw “more mental health calls than ever, more overdoses, especially narcotics…strokes, seizures.” By April, the trend had hit people in their 30’s..“This is the beginning of that first rollout of that category of age for AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna. I had taken people my age who were having a full, a full stroke, full paralysis, drooling to the U of A, we were taking people with chronic seizures.”.She recalled when Astra Zeneca was pulled from the market in May 2021..“On May 9, after bringing in one of three seizures that day to the U of A, there was a very senior nurse at the U of A triage who…[said we] were seeing this huge rise in blood clot injuries. And she said to me that the U of A was going to be asking the government to stop the Astra Zeneca shots. The very next day the government had pulled those shots.”.Rotchford recounted taking a “documented vaccine injury from AstraZeneca from one facility to stroke rehab. It was for a patient who was approximately 50 years old, full left side paralysis.”.The man had a “deep brain stroke.” Although his medical administration records indicated a vaccine injury, no one had told him..“[We] put him on the stretcher. He was already asking us before we even took him out of the room, ‘When can I get my next shot?’ So this patient was documented, but was not told he was a vaccine injury. We transferred him to the next facility,” she recalled..Staff at the new location weren’t forthcoming either..“They wouldn't explain it to him why he couldn't have a shot, or where they were going to get his shot, if it was going to be Pfizer or Moderna. It was just very clear at that time that some things were being tracked, but also not being passed on to the patients who suffered effects from them.”.By the first week of July 2021, it had been four to six weeks since people had received their second shots. News reports noted 1700 calls per day in Alberta, a 70% increase from normal volumes..“Every trauma room was full, every recess room was full, there were ambulances lined up down the ramp out of the hospital with patients so acute, they were already on their stretchers lined up down the ramp. There were people being told right in front of us in ER that their loved ones were dying. These were not expected deaths,” she recalled..Rotchford said she did not attend anyone who died in 2020, but in twelve shifts during Summer 2021, she attended four unexpected deaths aged 50 to 70..“These were people who died so suddenly they were sitting up watching TV across from a loved one who did not realize they passed away. They passed away walking out of their house to go to their car, not found till the next morning.”.When the vaccine mandate came, Rotchford was concerned because her sepsis had increased her risks of adverse reactions..“Throughout the mandate time, I saw a lot of discrimination against patients, a lot of harassment, bullying against coworkers, not only in the hospitals, but also on ground ambulance I saw from staff towards patients at that time.”.Rotchford and two colleagues made a presentation at the legislature to communicate that between 35 to 40 ambulances a day in Alberta were not running due to the mandates..“Some had gone off on stress leave before the end of the mandate. Our stress leave rate at EMS was 30%, and that went up to 45% in a single month from September to October.”.Through the MLA that facilitated Blatchford’s event at the legislature, she was put in touch with a doctor who granted her a medical exemption for the vaccine.
