Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Ambulance bases across Lennox and Addington County had the chance to host Canada’s Paramedic Memorial Bell this weekend as part of its tour across the province.
The bell is mounted on a base adorned with plaques honouring 51 paramedics who have lost their lives on the job since 1982.
On Monday a small ceremony was held at the ambulance base in Greater Napanee as members of L&A County Paramedic Services officially handed the bell to members of the Frontenac Paramedic Services as the bell continues on its tour.
In previous years the bell would travel the province in September as part of the Tour Paramedic Ride in which paramedics cycle from Toronto to Ottawa. Last year the ride included a stop in Greater Napanee, where the cyclists spent the night before completing the journey to Ottawa for a special ceremony.
“We do a lot of talking and education on PTSD and suicide in emergency services,” explained Paul Osborn, a paramedic with L&A County, who has taken part in the ride in previous years. “We couldn’t do that this year due to COVID-19, so we decided to tour the bell. The bell started in southern Ontario, I believe in Chatham-Kent, then it went by plane to northern Ontario in Moosonee and toured all of northern Ontario, Kenora, Sioux Lookout all the way down to Thunder Bay, Sudbury, back to southern Ontario to continue its journey.”
The bell is scheduled to arrive in Ottawa on Jan. 6 for a special ceremony, though one that figures to be much smaller than previous years.
The tour has a special meaning to Osborn as he had a close connection with two names on the memorial in flight paramedics Dustin Dagenais and Chris Snowball. Osborn had worked with them when he was a member of Ornge in Moosonee. His two colleagues perished in a helicopter crash in 2013.
Also included on the memorial are Canadian Forces paramedics who have lost their lives while on tour, as well as those who have succumb to PTSD ailments.
“We can be as vulnerable as the other allied emergency services at times,” said Osborn. “The other aspect of the Tour Paramedic Ride is to raise awareness of PTSD and to raise money for a monument. Currently police and fire have monuments in Ottawa for their line of duty deaths and paramedics don’t, so we’re trying to raise money to build a monument so we can immortalize our line of duty deaths as well.”