Recognizing first responders

Firefighters and police officers are often lauded for the dangerous work they do and the risks they take to keep us safe. But paramedics do much of the same work — and since 1988, 37 Canadian EMT’s have died while on duty. Now their colleagues want them to be recognized the same way other first responders are recognized.

This is a photo of the Ornge air ambulance that crashed in Moosonee last year. Two pilots and two paramedics died. Ronda Shewan worked in the same outpost: “It was very difficult. It changed in a moment, it changed everything. To know that four of your friends had passed away at work. They weren’t going to make it home to their families. I had done a thousand trips the same as those four had done. Going from Moosonee to Attawapiskat, middle of the night, darkness, yes. That’s what we do up there.”

Now her mission is to erect a memorial in Ottawa for Canada’s fallen paramedics. The capital already has memorials that list firefighters and police officers who died in the line of duty, and there is a plot of land available, but at least four million dollars is needed for the monument. She hopes to have an annual memorial bike ride — one in every city that lost a paramedic, starting with Chris Snowball’s hometown in Burlington. He was on the lost Moosonee flight, leaving Allie Scott a widow: “I always thought, I wouldn’t want to be the wife of a cop or a firefighter. Paramedic, really, what could happen?”

Paramedics have died in air and land crashes, from walking into noxious fumes and as medics in war zones. The most recent was William Mallock, who died a couple of weeks ago as his airborne ambulance crashed in Grand Manan, New Brunswick.

Heather Quinn is a Halton Paramedic: “When you’re moving in and out of traffic, going into people’s homes where you’re not quite sure of the environment you’re going into. Our uniform looks an awful lot like a police officer’s uniform.”

Snowball never worked as an EMT in Burlington, but Halton Paramedics helped organize and honour him at his funeral; And now they’re fully involved in the hometown paramedic ride. They say it’s a tight knit community.

Heather Quinn: “The National Police Memorial in Ottawa, we’ve attended that with our honour guard, and it’s so incredible to be part of that family, police, fire and EMS, and it’s time now for EMS to step up and be an equal partner in that.”

Allie Scott: “I think it’s great that our kids could go and actually see his name put up on a monument that honoured all these fellow paramedics.”

The first hometown paramedic ride starts at the Central Arena in Burlington on Thursday, September the 18th. You can get details or register at hometownparamedicride.ca