As part of a summer job fighting forest fires, Jessica left home to help stop a 90,000-hectare blaze in the Northwest Territories. While patrolling a back-country road, her life suddenly changed forever. The truck she was in lost control and she was thrown from the vehicle. Her back was broken and just like that, Jessica became a paraplegic.
Now five years later, Jessica attends law school at the University of Victoria and is a medal-winning wheelchair athlete. She competes all over the world as a starter on the Canadian Women’s Wheelchair Basketball team.
To keep safe at work, she says:
Workers need to know how to follow standard practices and safety rules — including telling the boss when anything gets in the way of safety. And they need to know how and when to stand up for themselves — for the sake of their lives, and the lives of their co-workers.
My Latest Posts
- That Which Is Busy
- Posted by Jessica on July 19, 2011
I must apologize: it has been way too long since I reported my comings and goings to you fine readers. This spring has felt incredibly busy (as I type that I realize it’s July – though you wouldn’t know it from the weather). Jon and I moved out of family housing at UVic, our home…
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- The “Off-Season”
- Posted by Jessica on April 8, 2011
I’m often surprised at how busy the “off-season” really is for us athletes. Many people think that the months we aren’t travelling and competing should find us kicking back on the couch, eating nachos, and hanging out. It’s completely the opposite. The off-season is almost MORE busy than competition. I find that when I’m in…
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- A Quick Trip to Japan
- Posted by Jessica on February 22, 2011
Every year in February, four of the strongest teams in the world meet in Osaka, Japan, to bash it out for a weekend and get a feeling for where the teams might be on the scale heading into the summer international season. This year marked the fourth time I have traveled to Japan right in…
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