There was a hive of activity on Wednesday at the Government Ambulance Service headquarters as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) were pampered at a day-long appreciation celebration.
Some of the most popular Crop Over tunes set the scene at Jemmotts Lane, St Michael as the EMTs were treated with massages, manicures, pedicures and makeovers. Guardian Life was also on hand to distribute information about planning for the future, while a fitness consultant taught about health and wellness.
The day-long treat also provided an opportunity for the public to pass through and meet the ambulance officers and learn more about what their job entails.
Public relations officer for the Barbados Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (BAEMT), Reverend Timothy McClean said one of the pertinent points made was that EMTs were professionals.
McClean said contrary to the old belief of them being just ambulance drivers or people who work on ambulances, they were trained, certified and very capable.
“What is important to note is right now EMS [Emergency Medical Services] in Barbados are the best throughout the Caribbean. Up to the last course of EMTs we had persons who came from outside of Barbados to be trained here,” he said.
He said, however, sometimes they would go to a house to collect a patient and they were expected “to pick up and go one time”.
“But we have to do assessments, take vital signs, address all those issues that have to be addressed first then transport you to the hospital. If we don’t do that then we are looking to lose our registration. So all those things are involved now and there have been involved for a number of years, but we want persons to recognise that. We are professionals,” McClean stressed.
Currently all the EMS professionals, both EMTs and paramedics, are trained through the Barbados Community College. EMTs are trained in basic life care while paramedics are in advanced life care. The association’s goal is to advance the level of certification for members, with EMTs level of certification to a year and the paramedics to a three-year associate degree programme similar to nursing. Additionally, McClean said they also hoped to engage the University of the West Indies to make it a degree programme. (SDB Media)
