Ontario Award for Paramedic Bravery – Paramedics across Ontario go above and beyond every day to serve their community. Lanark County Paramedic Service (LCPS) is proud to honour four of its Paramedics who pushed this commitment even further and put themselves at risk to help those in need.
Today, the Honourable Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, presented Paramedics Bryan Pollock, Thomas Quilliam, Gord Cobus, and Superintendent Janice Steele with the Ontario Award for Paramedic Bravery in a virtual ceremony.
The Ontario Award for Paramedic Bravery was created to recognize individual acts of outstanding courage and bravery performed by members of Ontario’s Paramedic services. The recipients are men and women whose actions exemplify such selfless courage without concern for their own personal safety.
On Friday, March 29th, 2019, Lanark County Paramedics Bryan Pollock and Thomas Quilliam were dispatched to the scene of a motor vehicle accident in downtown Perth, Ontario. They immediately noticed that the vehicle had struck a gas line causing an extensive natural gas leak. Bryan and Thomas not only attended to their critical patient but also were able to control the scene and begin to evacuate all neighbouring homes and businesses. They put themselves in danger to help others, remaining in the evacuation area despite the risk of fire and explosion. Superintendent Janice Steele arrived on the scene to stage a command post. Upon being notified of additional patients, Janice immediately attended to these patients within the evacuation area without concern for her own personal safety. LCPS is incredibly proud of the selfless actions displayed by Bryan, Thomas, and Janice as they put the safety of the citizens of Lanark County ahead of their own.
On Tuesday, April 16th, 2019, Lanark County Paramedic Gord Cobus heard a commotion outside of the ambulance base he was stationed at. He stepped outside and saw three Ontario Provincial Police officers in a violent struggle with a male. Two officers involved had already sustained injuries. Gord immediately stepped in to help. With his assistance, the male was brought under control and placed in custody. Gord assisted the officers without hesitation, putting his safety at risk to help others. He went above and beyond his duties that day and was presented with a Commissioner’s Certificate for his selfless act.
The Ontario Award for Paramedic Bravery is the highest level of recognition for a Paramedic to receive. With over 8,000 Paramedics serving in Ontario, less than 0.1% of Paramedics receive this award on an annual basis. As one of the smallest Paramedic Services in Ontario, LCPS is very proud to have four award recipients this year.
The Lanark County Paramedic Service provides emergency response services for an area encompassing almost 3,000 square kilometres with a population of over 70,000. It responds to approximately 25,000 calls for service each year.
