Survivor Profile - Peter Wiebe
Perseverance and Hard Work
I was a career electrician with full accreditation prior to my accident 10 years ago.
I was working as an on-site consultant for another electrical contractor in Kelowna. I was subjected to a massive arc flash/arc blast that very nearly took my life.
I was in isolation ICU for 2 ½ weeks. I had contracted a super bug but by God’s grace I survived.
I am quoting from Tkachenko et al.: Electrical Injury taken from the book “Occupational Electrical Injury: An International Symposium”.
“Electrical work – however indispensable and pervasive it is in the modern age – seems to lack a culturally sanctioned dramatic quality and a high social status that is granted to dangerous occupations. Electrical accidents, with the exception of those resulting in major explosions, fire, and multiple injuries, tend to be spatially isolated, often unwitnessed, and generally believed to result from the victims’ own incompetence. The shame and stupidity that electricians feel following an accidental electrical contact, as well as the fear of being judged incompetent and losing their job, may prevent them from reporting unwitnessed “minor” accidents.
Compared to firemen or emergency workers, electricians are summoned to start and create rather than to stop or prevent. They are expected to wire things, to fix, to make things work, and eventually to craft perfect masterpieces for transmitting exclusively useful energy. They go through rigorous training and apprenticeship in order to become masters, to reach the level of technical perfection that somehow equals safety.
If a fireman puts out the fire in time to save people in danger, he is a hero. If he’s too late, well it has still been a heroic effort, but there are limits to human power. If the fireman is injured, no shame attached. On the other hand, if an electrician doesn’t succeed, it is because of his incompetence. When he is shocked, it is his own fault. No safety means no perfection and no craftsmanship. Injury is a professional failure.” End of quote
The what ifs of this scenario were constantly in my mind.
Four and one half months post injury I very nearly lost the sight in my left eye when the retina ruptured as a result of being burned. The right eye is also damaged along with my hearing. The burns were deep full thickness approximately 30%. The burns, grafts, donor sites, loss of hearing, vision, balance, and smell were all huge issues.
But the battle for my mind was overwhelming. It wasn’t until July – August 2002 I went to the Chicago Electrical Trauma Center for evaluation that I received acceptance as fact for what I was experiencing and I wasn’t crazy. I wasn’t a malingerer or symptom amplifier. Armed with a legal medical opinion I was able to put most issues to rest.
One issue I face that is up close and personal is depression, especially in the winter months.
But I know that attitude for me begins with gratitude. I used to think that people suffering from depression just needed to “suck it up” and get on with their lives. I now know that is impossible. For me physical exercise plays a large part in devising a control strategy for depression.
I now have a new “normal” that I must accept, and for the most part, have accepted.
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