Basseterre, St. Kitts (JNF Hospital Communications) — Emergency services at the Joseph Nathaniel France General Hospital have been enhanced significantly with the employment, on Monday, July 14, of eleven individuals who had earlier in the year undergone a rigorous eight-week Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Basic Training.
Three of the new employees will serve as orderlies, six as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), and two will serve as Paramedics, which in itself is a groundbreaking achievement for the Institutional-Based Services, as it is the first time paramedics have been employed.
“We have never had paramedics in our system before, so it is the first time we are having them as part of the team,” underscored Dr Jenson Morton, Director of Health Institutions within the Ministry of Health. “The new employees are going to be distributed throughout the island. However, at the beginning, they will be at JNF, but eventually they will be put into the system, and anyone can go anywhere.”
The eight-week EMT Basic Training, which began in mid-February at the JNF General Hospital, was conducted by the In-service Department of the hospital, led by Mr Delbert Wilkes, a senior EMT Officer. According to Dr Morton, all eleven were successful in getting their certification.
“So, we are doing a gradual onboarding, and the first six have been onboarded as the EMTs,” observed Dr Morton. “Another three we have onboarded them in the interim as orderlies, but we do have intentions to also eventually onboard them as EMTs in the system as well, but they do have the full training and the full certification, so we are happy that we are seeing the expansion of the department.”
The EMT Department is one of the areas that would have had a few challenges over the years, but it has always been able to perform and serve the general public. It is hoped that with this recent addition, it is something that will strengthen the department even further as the team that has come on board comes with a lot of energy and dynamism, and as Dr Morton put it, “all of them came to the table well qualified.”
The new employees are Mr Nigel Brandy (Orderly), Mr Degen Elliot (Orderly), Mr Yasmani Lopez (Orderly), Mr Rowen Trotman (EMT), Mr Jervon Bonnie (EMT), Mrs Gabrielle Williams (EMT), Ms Saidah Liburd (EMT), Ms Desanna Whyte (EMT), Mr Janover Noa (EMT), Mr Jorge Iribar (Paramedic), and Mr Opealuwa Ostiye (Paramedic).
While the team is largely made up of locals, some came from places as far afield as Dominica, Nigeria, and Cuba. They came in with a wide variety of skills, as among them they have persons that were trained with the Marines and one who trained as a fireman.
“It doesn’t stop here – they have been certified as EMT Basics,” pointed out Dr Morton. “The six that are coming on as well as the three we intend to onboard later, are certified as EMT Basics. We do have the full intention to continue their training opportunities for them to become EMT Intermediates, and for them to eventually become paramedics.”