I read recently where the police and firefighters have a cairn in veterans park and this is as it should be. I worked for 40 years in another branch of the public service.
We have no cairn, and as far as I know none of us are looking for one. I would just like the public to know that our job may be more dangerous than either police or firefighters.
As far as I know, in the last 40 years in B.C. there has been one firefighter die in the line of duty and three police officers, although there may have been more.
In the service I worked in, the provincial Ambulance Service, there have been seven paramedics lose their lives while on duty in that 40 years.
We are not looking for any monument, we would just like the public to be aware our job may be far more dangerous than the police or firefighters.
Some of us consider ourselves as the silent service because the public doesn’t see or hear much of what we do as it’s mostly done out of the public eye.
Ralph Wand
Osoyoos