New EMTs trained on Cayman Brac

| 02/04/2015 | 2 Comments

(CNS Business): The Cayman Islands Health Service Authority (HSA) has added six individuals to its Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT’s) team. The new graduates include Cameron Myrie, Michael Blackburn, Jelani Rivers McLean, Joseph Chollette, Brian Neil Dilbert and Sonja McLean Rivers. The EMT’s are now eligible to work as fully qualified EMT’s throughout the Cayman Islands and Jamaica.

The young group of Caymanian trainees completed their three-month course at Faith Hospital on Cayman Brac and additional clinic hours working in an ambulance at the Cayman Islands Hospital.

Roy McTaggart, Councillor for Health, spoke at the recent graduation and said the opportunity to offer this training locally is vital to career enhancement and supports the HSA in creating job opportunities for Caymanians in the healthcare industry.

“The importance of training in a local environment has two significant outcomes. Firstly, the trainees can complete their practical hours in an environment that they will eventually work in, being trained by professionals who have a hands-on understanding of working in Cayman and the specific skills required to work as an EMT,” McTaggart said.  “Secondly, the HSA will be able to facilitate more EMT local training initiatives by local professionals. This strategic decision will ensure that HSA opportunities are proactively made more readily available to Caymanians in the future.”

Dr Delroy Jefferson, HSA Medical Director, said, “I am pleased to see this programme come together, as it provides another entry point whereby young Caymanians can access the noble career of healthcare.“

Dr Srirangan Velusamy, Director of Sister Islands Health Services, commented, “We, at Faith Hospital, were excited and proud to be able to provide the opportunity for six hard working young individuals to become Emergency Medical Technicians.”

He added, “The most satisfying aspect of this journey has been using local talents and training them to an international standard of proficiency. This has proven that we have the potential to provide many more opportunities to fulfill the dreams of young people in the field of healthcare, and facilitate them to become confident and successful contributing members of our society.”

Cayman News Service

EMT Graduates: Cameron Myrie, Michael Blackburn, Jelani Rivers McLean, Joseph Chollette and Brian Neil Dilbert. Not pictured – Sonja McLean Rivers

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Category: Health, Medical Health

Comments (2)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    “eligible for work” does not sound like “will be employed at” which means HSA isn’t guaranteeing any of them jobs. Good luck to the graduates, well done, I pray your country will hire you as opposed to assisting you in becoming qualified only to use the excuse that their existing contracts cannot be severed…..

    • K says:

      Trust and believe, there’s jobs available, but for higher level pre-hospital providers. About 75% of the staff is considered “BLS”-basic life support. Great if you’re just starting out, but we have 20+ years BLS providers who do squat but bitch and collect a FAT paycheck. As a former “EMT” used to say….”EMS..earn money sleeping”
      EMS is the most neglected, poorly run, and poorly funded medical service on this island.
      Usually, everyone thats trained locally gets a job. So that’s a bright spot. I hope their training serves them well and they don’t fall into the bad habits of the “veteran” staff.

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