While being a paramedic often involves several days of routine calls, it also means occasionally responding to profoundly traumatic events, like the death of a child.

It’s this second type of call that can take a serious mental toll on a paramedic, says Mike Adair, the chief of Perth County’s service.

“Some of the things that maybe, if you’re a member of the general public, you would imagine would be a horrible thing to see, we do get exposed to that. Then, there’s just that accumulation of seeing things over the years,” Adair said.

“So it’s really critical that our paramedics build resiliency in that we do, (while) we ensure that we’re providing each other with the support (so) we’re having normal reactions to these situations and that we recognize that.”

Adair’s comments come after O

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