Ready when it matters most: Yegor’s story
About a year and a half ago, I almost lost my life.
My girlfriend and I were driving home from a camping trip when we hit a thick fog bank just outside Hope. Our vehicle rolled three times and I was partially ejected. I woke up two days later from an induced coma, concussed with more than two dozen broken bones including my neck and spine, internal injuries, partial paralysis and severe internal bleeding.
That experience changed everything.
Today, I’m back on deck, and every time I check emergency equipment or take part in training, I know exactly why it matters. I donβt want anyone to ever end up like me.
I joined BC Ferries 10 years ago after trying to become a firefighter. It’s a very competitive career, and a friend who had recently been hired at BC Ferries suggested I give the marine industry a try. I sold my car to pay for my marine emergency training courses and rode my bike everywhere until I finished them. Luckily, I got an interview, and I started with BC Ferries in April 2016.
I began on Salt Spring Island, where I learned the ropes aboard the Queen of Nanaimo, the Howe Sound Queen and the Skeena Queen. Looking back, those years taught me skills that I still use today.
One thing I wish the public knew is that deckhands do much more than load cars. People see us directing traffic on the vehicle deck, but behind the scenes we’re constantly training, maintaining emergency equipment and ensuring that the ship is ready to respond if something goes wrong.
One lesson has always stayed with me. You don’t rise to the level of your adrenaline. You fall to the level of your training. It’s important to do the work before an emergency happens. We train so we can respond quickly, and we maintain the ship’s emergency systems so they’ll work when people need them most.
About a year and a half ago, that lesson became deeply personal.
Recovering from the accident was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I spent months rebuilding my strength and learning to walk again. I pushed myself in the gym for hours every day because I had one goal in mind: Doing right by the people who count on me.
When things got difficult, I pictured the ship I work on and the people I work with. I imagined what I would do if the ship was on fire or someone needed help. That helped me push one more mile on a run or lift and drag 10 more pounds than I thought I could.
Today, I’m in even better physical shape than I was before the accident. I don’t think I would have made it without my girlfriend β who had my back while recovering from her own serious nervous and physical injuries, and her mother β who opened her home to us when we had nowhere else to go. They both also work for BC Ferries, and the love and support they gave me made all the difference. I decided not to give up on myself, but more importantly, not to give up on them because they weren’t going to give up on me.
Coming back to work has been emotional. Physically, I was ready. Mentally, it took longer.
A lot of people don’t know how to respond when someone has been through something like that. I understand it comes from a good place. I’m always happy to talk about what happened because I think it helps remove some of the stigma around asking those questions.
More than anything, my experience has reinforced why this work matters. I don’t want anyone to go through what I went through. If something happens on board, I want us to be ready. It’s easy to become complacent, but emergencies don’t happen because of one big mistake. They happen when lots of little mistakes stack up.
If somebody doesn’t stow a fire hose properly and there’s a fire, those lost minutes matter.
That’s why I tell people to take care of the vessel. If you take care of your vessel, she’ll take care of you.
Take care of the ship. Take care of your body. Take care of your mind. Take care of each other. If you see someone struggling, don’t be afraid to ask how they’re doing. Instead of gossiping, try to connect. Have each other’s backs.
That’s the kind of crew I want to be part of, and it’s why I’m proud to be back on deck.
Yegor Ludmilin, Local 3 β Tsawwassen
