St. John Ambulance is bringing back the Medical First Responders program to Yorkton, and is looking for volunteers to help put the program together.
Josh Haugerud, Director of Community Services, says that this is a revival of a program that used to exist in the city, but had to be disbanded after volunteer rates suffered. The program is coming back because there has been a renewed interest by community members to have a program like this running in Yorkton.
The MFR programs in the province provide first aid to people at public events, Haugerud explains. The need to have a first aid program like this in the area is huge, because any event that can attract a crowd is going to need first aid available. With St. John Ambulance providing the service, event organizers can have a lower cost program that provides a high level of service.
“Anything where there is a large crowd of people, we would be at. Say somebody has heat stroke at a tractor pull, for example, we would be there to help them.”
One of the advantages for volunteers is that they receive MFR training for no cost. Haugerud says having people with that training, which goes beyond first aid, is something that benefits the community overall no matter where those people are, whether at work, at home, or just generally in the community.
“If there is an emergency that comes through Yorkton, you would have people on site who would be able to help with that. You would also have those people at the event, so if something serious did happen you would have people able to maintain the situation until emergency services could arrive.”
Approximately eleven people were at an information night held in the city, and Haugerud says this shows there is a strong desire to get the program going again in the city and the best possible start they could have.
“We couldn’t have imagined a better turnout. Generally when these things start up, we’re looking at two or three people who are starting them up and then growing from there. To have eleven people, it’s just fantastic.”
Volunteers for the program must be at least 15 years of age and be physically and mentally capable of doing the work required. A criminal record check is also required, as well as a Standard First Aid and Level C CPR Certificate, and upgrade to full MFR certificate after a year.
It’s expected that there will be a couple of months before the MFR program begins, in order to get paperwork together and have the logistics sorted out, but he anticipates they will soon be at local events providing first aid.
Haugerud says that people who are interested should phone Ashley Balysky at 306-522-7226. He also says that there are other ways to support if volunteering is not possible, whether that’s through the therapy dog program that also runs in Yorkton, or by doing a cash donation as St John Ambulance runs their programming at a low cost.
