“The first thing I remember when I came to, was the tractor was idling, the belts were running and the flesh was being taken off my arm.”
Tony Potoreyko shared that grisly memory with an audience at the Farming with Technology conference in Saskatoon Nov. 16.
The farmer from Porcupine Plain, Sask., almost lost his right arm when it became jammed in a baler.
Potoreyko cannot recall much about the accident. He was unconscious. But he remembers getting out of his tractor to stretch and check his equipment just before it happened.
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“Some people suggest there was a root I may have tripped on and somehow fell into the machine,” he said.
When Potoreyko regained consciousness, his arm was caught between a belt and roller in the baler. Unable to pull his arm out, Potoreyko used his free arm and a utility knife to cut the belt.
“I knew the situation was serious and I didn’t lose my cool because if that knife was flicked out of my hand, there would be no way of getting out of there.”
Potoreyko freed his shredded arm. He climbed back into his tractor, maneuvered himself behind the steering wheel and drove home.
His wife, Darlene, drove him to the hospital in Porcupine Plain.
Potoreyko was then transported to Saskatoon University Hospital where doctors told him the arm might have to be amputated.
“I had time to think about it and decided if the arm jeopardized my life then I’d allow them to take it off. Otherwise, I was going to fight to keep the arm,” Potoreyko said as he demonstrated the strength and mobility of the arm injured five years ago.
Doctors transplanted muscle from Potoreyko’s back to strengthen the arm and skin graphs were taken from his left leg.
Potoreyko recuperated in hospital for six weeks, which meant six weeks of unfinished farm work. It was a small price to pay to save his arm, he said.
“Harvest was under way for most people. Except in my case, my combines were all sitting in the quonset and my grain truck was apart and sitting in the workshop.”
Community support
Potoreyko’s wife and four daughters, with help from the community, saved the harvest.
Potoreyko’s injury took more than a physical toll on the family.
“After my accident, you could not leave (my youngest) daughter alone in the house because she would just lose it. She was scared something was going to happen to one of her parents again.”
Potoreyko said the family and farm today are nearly back to normal.
According to Louise Hagel, a researcher at the University of Saskatchewan, accidents like Potoreyko’s happen often. Several cause death.
Hagel presented a study the university carried out on farm fatalities, which will be used as part of the Canadian Agricultural Injury Survey Program.
Researchers studied the number of farm accidents, the people involved, the event that caused the accident and the time of year.
Through the study, Hagel concludes adult males, mainly owners and operators, are the most likely to be involved in accidents. Farm work-related accidents made up 75 percent of all cases, with machinery, tractors in particular, as the leading cause.
The purpose of the study is to determine what causes accidents and make changes to prevent more deaths, said Hagel, but non-fatal injuries are also a concern. For every farm fatality, there are 15 injuries.
“The farm fatalities are only the tip of the iceberg. It would be misleading to base all of our efforts on farm safety on fatal injury events,” Hagel said.
“To have a complete picture and be well informed, we need to know more about the non-fatal.”
