There are many professions where the hard work of employees often goes unrecognized.
Firefighters, police officers and EMT practitioners perform their duties every day, and often they are thankless jobs. These professions are all instrumental in ensuring the safety of each and every resident, and in making Barrhead (and every other community for that matter) a place in which parents can raise their families.
It’s comforting knowing that people like that sacrifice themselves to heed the call to help others. It takes people with certain abilities to fill the role of a firefighter, police officer and paramedic. Every year, there is one week that is dedicated to recognizing their contributions.
For example, EMS Awareness Week takes place May 16-22, and is designed to honours the EMS profession and the men and women providing this invaluable public service for the vital work they do each and every day. The week also offers an opportunity to better understand the importance of EMS within our health-care system. Their dedication to this mission ensures round-the-clock emergency medical response and care.
Locally, the ambulance service is staffed with eight full-time employees and another 18 casual employees. Although primarily associated with ambulances, EMS is really a system of dedicated professionals who provide timely and appropriate medical care to sick and injured people.
Being able to handle scenes that would normally make other people faint is a testament to the attitude an EMS practitioner – whether it’s an EMR, an EMT or a paramedic – needs to be successful. It’s a job that is largely glorified in the movies as a fast-paced, thrill-inducing experience. But the fact of the matter is that EMS practitioners are about more than motor vehicle collisions. A great deal of time is spent transporting patients between different hospitals or to cancer treatment centres. But no matter how big or little the job, it is work that should be recognized in some form or another.
Barrhead Ambulance Services director Trevor Trefanenko said there are a number of events lined up to honour EMS Awareness Week. On May 16, Trefanenko said he is planning a dodge ball challenge between teachers at Barrhead Composite High School and his staff. On May 18, Trefanenko and his staff will be handing out rewards to students who are caught wearing proper protective equipment while riding their bikes or skateboards. He will then head to Hillcrest Lodge on May 20 and his staff will play cards and pool with residents.
