Sault paramedics, emergency services undergo suicide prevention training
Sault Ste. Marie paramedics are the latest group of emergency service personnel in the city to undergo a program that helps workers identify those dealing with suicidal thoughts.
Paramedics wrapped up training last week on a suicide prevention program, aimed at giving emergency workers the proper tools to help people in crisis.
"Over the last year, we've had approximately 1,000 calls that were related to behavioural or psychiatric-type complaints," said Dan Langevin, deputy paramedics chief.
"I can't pinpoint exactly how many of those were for suicide, but there definitely were quite a number of them, for sure."
Langevin said suicide prevention training helps paramedics refine the tools that they've learned on the job.
"It's certainly a lot easier to identify a broken arm or leg," he said. "But with suicide, it's something that, it does take some time to discuss that with the patient, being able to have those tools and feel comfortable in having that discussion with them and hopefully then, they can decrease their crisis and bring them down."
Other emergency service personnel in the city have also undergone similar training in the past few months.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.