WEBVTT

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Today we're meeting with Major
Alison Kabaroff

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She's a military doctor,

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more specifically a medical specialist
in emergency medicine.

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They are the doctors on the front line,
saving lives.

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Doesn't get much cooler than that.

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Hey, Major. Kabaroff
Or is it Doctor Kabaroff?

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You can call me Alison. Okay. Will do.

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Where are we today?

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Today we're in beautiful Petawawa
Ontario, on exercise Starlight response.

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It's a joint exercise between 1 Canadian Field Hospital
and 2 Field Ambulance to exercise

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our mobile, surgical and resuscitation
capabilities in the event of a deployment.

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Okay. Wow. Sounds really important.

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And what is your job here?

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My job here is to help run the scenarios
and educate the teams

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that are undergoing training.

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So you are a Medical Specialist
in emergency medicine, right?

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That's correct. I work about 90% of my time
in a civilian hospital

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as a specialist in emergency medicine.

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So you're a civilian doctor
and a military doctor? Yep.

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I spend most of my practice
working in a civilian hospital

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alongside other civilian doctors
and treating regular patients.

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And about 10% of my time
doing things like this.

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Wow. Okay.

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And did you work as a doctor
before joining the military?

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So I was a reservist for a number of years
as a physician.

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And then when the trade opened up in the
Regular orce, I put my application in.

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How do you balance doing both.

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That's one of the beauties of shift work,
is that it allows me

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to stack a lot of my shifts
working in a regular emergency department,

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and then free up some time to come and
participate in exercises like this one.

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Okay, cool.

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And I've got to ask,
what's in this blue bag?

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This is a video laryngoscope.

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It's what we use to help manage
some difficult airways

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by putting breathing
tubes in patients with,

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complicated airways or in

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moving vehicles
such as helicopters or ambulances.

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Wow. Okay.

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Why did you decide to move from
the Reserve Force to the Regular Force?

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Well, the emergency medicine specialist
trade was not open in the Regular Force.

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And just just until a couple of years ago.

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At that point,
I put my application in, and here I am.

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That's amazing. Alison.

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Okay. What's one word that describes you?

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Chaotic.

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And on that note, I've got to get
some things out of the tent.

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All right, let's go.

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So, Alison,
what's your favorite part of the job?

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My favorite part of the job
is getting to practice emergency medicine

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in challenging circumstances,
interesting locations,

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and with a really great, high
functioning team.

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And what kind of training
did you do for this job?

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So after finishing my Royal College
residency in emergency medicine,

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I would have done my basic
medical officer's course.

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And then for CMERT

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I got to do the CMERT course,
which is advanced airomedevac,

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as well as really cool courses
like SERE and Land

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Survival, where you get to learn
how to survive if your aircraft goes down.

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Oh, sounds like maybe
you're a bit of an adrenaline junkie.

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Just a little bit.

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What do you like to do
when you're not working?

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I like to spend time with my family.

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We go camping, hang out with my dog,
and I like to box.

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Amazing.

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So this is the field hospital? Yes.

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This is a field hospital.

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High mobility or high readiness?

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Field hospital,

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which is set up for damage control,
resuscitation and damage control surgery.

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What are your first steps
when a patient comes in here?

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Well, in order to come to this facility,
you've got to be really sick.

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So our focus is going to be
on resuscitating that patient

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and making sure that they're stable enough
to survive an operation.

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And what do you think it takes
to be an Emergency Medicine Specialist.

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To be anEmergency Medicine Specialist,
you have to be flexible in your thinking.

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Highly adaptable, have a great sense
of humor and work well as part of a team.

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Got it. And what does a civilian
day look like for you?

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I work at a level one trauma center
in my civilian practice,

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which means any day I could see

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some of the sickest trauma
patients in Edmonton and northern Alberta,

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or be managing sick heart failure patients
with organ transplants or sepsis.

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We also see a variety of patients,
from pediatrics to geriatrics.

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But in the military,
it's a little bit different

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in the Canadian Forces,
you have opportunities to do courses

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like aerospace and dive medicine,
as well as opportunities for deployments.

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Okay. Have you ever deployed?

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Yes, I just got back from OPP globe in
support of Canadian operations in Haiti.

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Oh that's amazing.

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And what's your proudest moment
on the job?

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Proudest moment on the job
would probably be finishing my land

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survival course, lighting up
that smoke generator and watching smoke

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get above the tree line. So cool.

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And what's the most complicated procedure
you've ever worked on?

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Well, at a civilian hospital,
that would probably be floating

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a transvenous pacemaker with CPR ongoing
or a resuscitated thoracotomy.

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Wow. And what is a
must do after a shift at the hospital?

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Definitely a shower.

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Then going home
to spend time with my family and my dog.

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Okay, Alison. Last question.

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What would you say to someone deciding
between being a civilian emergency room

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physician or practicing as an emergency
medicine physician in the CAF?

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I would say you get the best
of both worlds by joining the CAF.

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You get all of the fun times
being a civilian emergency

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physician and the opportunities that come
with being in the Canadian Forces.

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And it's the best job in the world.

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Amazing.

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Thanks so much for your
time today, Alison. Thanks.