SPRINGHILL, N.S. – Does Ronnie Maine owe John Parson’s his life? Maybe.
“John, in a roundabout way, probably saved my brains, or my life,” said Maine, who along with Parsons, works at Dr. Carson & Marion Murray Community Centre in Springhill.
What is that roundabout way? Well, a little more than a year ago, Parson’s pushed for the implementation of a helmet policy whereby everybody who goes on the ice at the Richard Calder Arena in Springhill, including employees, have to wear a helmet.
The policy met some resistance at first.
“We kind of laughed a bit about it at the time,” said Maine
But it wasn’t long before everybody fell in line.
“It’s a mandatory policy now. Anybody who skating or anybody on the ice has to wear a helmet.”
The policy worked out really well for Maine during a hockey tournament in Springhill about two months ago.
“One afternoon I was walking across the ice and, bang, the next thing I knew I came down on the back of my head,” said Maine. “A coach came over to make sure I was alright and said, ‘Man, you’re lucky you wore the helmet because I’m not sure if you’d still be around.’”
The impact was so hard that it tore the helmet off of Maine’s head.
“The helmet was fastened, but it tore the helmet right off me,” said Maine.
On the day of the fall, a friend of Maine’s teased him about the helmet.
“He said, ‘you look some cute in that helmet with that big moon face of yours,’” said Maine. “He asked if I have to wear it, and I said, ‘It’s policy, I can’t take it off.’ Less than 20 minutes later, bang, I hit my head.”
Staff at the arena notified the Municipality of Cumberland County about the incident, and on Nov. 28, county council presented Parsons with a certificate recognizing his, ‘outstanding contribution to the safety culture of the Municipality of Cumberland.’
“I didn’t expect this,” said Parsons. “They said, ‘come up to the council meeting,’ and I said ‘OK.’ They surprised me.”
Maine has thanked Parsons many times for making sure everybody on the ice at the Richard Calder Arena is wearing a helmet, and Parsons says he’s happy Maine is alright.
“If he wasn’t wearing a helmet he would have been hurt, or worse,” said Parsons.
