by Jane Campbell
On the other end was BCEHS Chief Operations Officer Jennie Helmer. She asked Brock what he was doing at the moment, and he told her was making pancakes for local kids.
“Oh, that sounds like typical Brock,” she said.
Brock was confused by this comment at first, until Jennie continued, and let him know she was calling to congratulate him on winning the 2024 Tony Sunderland Memorial Plaque of Pride.
The Tony Sunderland Plaque is given annually to an employee in recognition of their dedication and loyalty to BCEHS and a strong commitment to the needs of their community. The award is named in memory of Tony Sunderland, a 41-year-old paramedic who died of a heart attack while attending to two critical patients at a motor vehicle accident in June 1988. He was the first BCEHS paramedic to die on duty.
After getting off the phone with Jennie, “I walked back into the room with the RCMP members and let out a pretty loud ‘woohoo,’” Brock says, “and then I just went right back to serving food for the kids.”
Brock moved to Stewart about 17 years ago to help his parents-in-law with their pizza restaurant. He and his wife were only supposed to be there temporarily, but they quickly fell in love with the community and decided to stay.
Stewart is a town of about 500 people in Northwestern BC, close to the border with Alaska. Originally a mining settlement, Stewart’s main industry now is tourism, with visitors coming to see the area’s dramatic scenery and fish in Portland Canal, a stunning inlet bordered on both sides by snow capped peaks.
Brock had been in Stewart for several years and was working for public works, when the BCEHS unit chief at the time asked him if he’d be interested in a driver-only position, meaning he would partner with a paramedic and drive an ambulance to emergencies, but not provide any medical care.
At the time he moved to Stewart, Brock had already worked for many years on ranches and as a truck driver and heavy equipment operator. He had not planned on becoming a paramedic or working in health care, but when he was asked to help his community, he stepped up.
About six months after Brock started working in the driver-only role, the unit chief left her position, and Brock trained to become an emergency medical responder so he could provide medical treatment to patients. Brock has now been working as a paramedic in Stewart for 13 years.
Brock’s favorite part about his job is the connection he’s been able to build with his community by providing such a crucial service.
“There isn’t one person in this community I haven’t been able to talk to or haven’t been able to reach out to in one way or another,” he says. “I can walk down the street and people wave at me and they’re happy to know that I’m always there. It just fills with me with a little bit of pride knowing that they can rely on me.”
Brock’s commitment to Stewart goes beyond just his role at BCEHS. In addition to the monthly pancake breakfasts for kids, Brock also hosts morning coffee gatherings along with the RCMP, serves with the Canadian Rangers, and more.
In nominating Brock for the Tony Sunderland Plaque, Northwest District Manager Tom Soames wrote, “Today he called me to see if I would pick up his Santa suit at the cleaners as he has been Santa in the community Christmas party for children for the past fifteen years.”
Tom continues, “He wears his uniform with pride and takes every opportunity to march in a parade or hold an open house at the station.”
“I do it because I’m in love with my community”
Playing such an important role in a small and remote community also comes with challenges, however. Right now, Brock is the only paramedic based in Stewart. There’s another person living in town who’s qualified to drive the ambulance but is not a paramedic and does not provide any medical care. Paramedics based in other communities also sometimes travel to Stewart to cover shifts.
Nonetheless, Brock shoulders a huge responsibility knowing that he is often the only paramedic serving his community. He’s not able to step away from work in the same way paramedics in larger communities can, knowing that they have many other colleagues who will be serving in their place when they’re not working.
“I do it because I’m in love with my community,” he says.
BCEHS is working to recruit more paramedics to work in Stewart and in many other beautiful and unique communities across B.C. To learn more about career opportunities at BCEHS visit
joinus.bcehs.ca.
Brock received the Tony Sunderland Plaque in person at the BCEHS Leaders Forum in Kelowna in April 2024. For Brock, who’s worked in relative isolation from others at BCEHS for most of his career, being recognized by the organization and his peers for the commitment and sacrifices he’s made was deeply meaningful.
“It was the culmination of 13 years of blood, sweat and tears,” he says, “and I appreciate it. I want to say thank you to everyone at BCEHS who’s stepped up and kept working hard every day, and I want to say thank you to the higher ups and directors in the committee who acknowledged me and noticed me out here in the middle of nowhere.”
