Kahnawake officials hope to have more paramedics hitting the streets ‘soon’
Written by Paul Graif on 2 May 2020
Before the pandemic hit, eight students were just weeks away from completing coursework in Kahnawake’s first local paramedics training program.
The 1-year Kahnawake Paramedic Program launched last year and was anticipated to address the shortage of paramedics in the community.
And right now, the Kahnawake Fire Brigade (KFB) is struggling to maintain proper coverage with a very small staff, according to Commissioner of Public Safety, Lloyd Phillips.
In a daily briefing on Saturday, Phillips said he is looking at options to restart the course so that students can get back out into the field.
“They’re very close, they’re very knowledgable people, some of them work to assist,” said Philips. “But if we would have had just a little while longer, we could have had eight more paramedics in our community, out there serving the community.”
Phillips applauded the work of the KFB paramedics and asked them to hang in a little while longer. “I want to underscore the fact that we do have these other medics who will be coming along hopefully very shortly.”
