Gordon Giesbrecht

Academic career

Giesbrecht is a Canadian academic and public educator. Giesbrecht earned a PhD in physiology from the University of Manitoba in 1990 and has been a professor of thermophysiology in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management since 1991. He is best known for his work on cold physiology and the co-creation of Cold Water Boot Camp and Beyond Cold Water Boot Camp; two public/professional educational programs. He has also spearheaded a research and education program dedicated to reduce the incidence of vehicle submersion drownings, which account for up to 10% of all drownings.

Cold physiology and survival

Through publications, media appearances and educational programs, Giesbrecht has championed the fact that most cold-water immersion deaths are not caused by hypothermia (which takes more than an hour for most adults), but rather occur earlier due to either the cold shock response (gasping and hyperventilation), or cold incapacitation (due to cooling of muscle and nerve fibres). In order to clarify and publicize the four phases of cold water immersion

1. Cold shock response
2. Cold incapacitation
3. Hypothermia
4. Circum-rescue collapse

Giesbrecht coined the 1-10-1 Principle which was introduced on February 19, 2004 on Late Night With David Letterman. "If you fall in ice water, do not panic and remember you have 1 MINUTE to get control of your breathing, 10 MINUTES of meaningful movement, and 1 HOUR before you become unconscious due to hypothermia."

Vehicle submersion

After testifying as an expert witness in an inquest regarding the death of the driver of a snowplow which broke through the ice on a winter road, Giesbrecht realized that up to 10% of all drownings occurred in vehicles and that there was virtually no organized research into vehicle submersion, especially with people in the test vehicles. Operation ALIVE (Automobile submersion: Lessons In Vehicle Escape) has resulted in a series of scientific publications and the following public advice for occupants of a sinking car: "Don't panic, do not touch your cell phone and remember 4 words, 'SEATBELTS off; WINDOWS open; CHILDREN released from their constraints; and OUT'". This work has also resulted in rewriting of the "Sinking Vehicle Protocol", and creation of a new "Vehicle Stranded in Floodwater Protocol" used by the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch for 9-1-1 emergency dispatch operators throughout the world.

Media communications

Giesbrecht has appeared in a number of interviews and documentaries relating to his work in environmental medicine, including Discovery Channel Canada, twice on the Rick Mercer Report, the National Geographic Channel, Canadian and US network news, and The Nature of Things'.'

Publications

Giesbrecht is the author/coauthor of over 90 publications in the scientific literature, has coauthored one book, Hypothermia, Frostbite and Other Cold Injuries, and written a dozen book chapters.

Awards and honours

Political career

After incumbent Conservative MP Rod Bruinooge declined to run in the 2015 Canadian federal election, Giesbrecht won the nomination race to replace him as candidate for Winnipeg South. During the campaign Giesbrecht highlighted Canada’s number one ranking in the G7 in both economic growth and job creation. He also described the 24% increase in combined science funding for four federal funding organizations (NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR and NRC) during the Conservative mandate.

In September 2015, Giesbrecht faced criticism from his political opponents for a 2009 video in which he described abortion rates as "a 9/11 every day for the past 35 years." The video was made when Giesbrecht was president of Horizon College and Seminary, a Saskatoon Christian Bible College. These comments came from a message in which Giesbrecht encouraged future community and church leaders to meet people in their greatest times of need (in this case, women with unwanted pregnancies or who had an abortion) not with condemnation but with Christian love, compassion and support.