On June 19th, the Canadian Red Cross honoured the First Nations Health Authority with a "Partners in Humanity" citation for our partnership on the First Responder initiative. The award is "in recognition of [FNHA’s] commitment to improving the lives of vulnerable people within their community by assisting the Canadian Red Cross to effectively mobilize the power of humanity." The ceremony took place at Red Cross’ Annual General Meeting and Assembly and Tally Bains, Chief Financial Officer, Jackie Bohez, VP, Human Resources and Melanie Rivers, Senior Advisor, Strategic Policy accepted the award on behalf of FNHA.
The First Nations Health Authority, Red Cross and First Nations communities in BC are collaborating to establish training and infrastructure for First Responder services in rural and remote communities. Community staff or volunteers are being trained and licensed to provide pre-hospital emergency care, enhancing capacity directly in the community to save lives.
21 communities have participated so far, with 52 newly certified First Responders. 20-30 more communities with 70-90 more First Responders are expected to participate in 2015.