The City of Laval has announced that it has opened a special contact point dedicated to answering residents’ questions on how they can help the people of Ukraine who are currently under attack.
Residents and business owners who wish to do their part can send an e-mail to the following address: benevoles-mesures-urgence@laval.ca. The city says the purpose of the contact point is to centralize help offers for the Ukraine crisis.
The city also recently announced that Laval is donating $20,000 to the cause through the Canadian Red Cross. “I am proud to see the solidarity of the people of Laval, of whom there are many who are making themselves available to come to the assistance of the Ukrainian people,” Mayor Stéphane Boyer said.
“The city is working closely with its government counterparts, as well as our partners on the terrain. Everything is in place and the community is ready for the arrival of refugees from Ukraine.
“The situation in Ukraine makes me very sad,” Mayor Boyer added. “Today, we want to show our unwavering support towards the Ukrainian people through this donation. We are therefore inviting residents and businesses who wish to support the Ukrainian people through the Canadian Red Cross.
“The Ukrainian community in Laval, with its 2,300 members, is in itself a rich resource for our city, and we remain aware of the preoccupations that our residents no doubt have for their country of origin. Solidarity is what we owe them.”
Laval begins implementing First Responders at fire stations
On March 1, firefighters at the Laval Fire Dept.’s firehall no. 5 in the district of Saint-François became the first firefighters in Laval to become qualified to level one (PR-1). As such, they are now equipped to answer priority emergency medical calls for cardiopulmonary arrest, anaphylactic shock and opioid overdoses.
Firehall by firehall, the city will be training all the firefighters so that First Responder service becomes available through the fire department across the island in conjunction with Urgences-santé.
Laval is the first major city (pop. 200,000 and above) in Quebec to offer level one First Responder service to its residents.
The city is implementing the service by starting at firehalls located in Laval’s most distant areas. After this, the service will be implemented in the centre of the city, since emergency medical response was already considered to be at least partly available in central Laval.
Beginning in the summer of 2022, firefighter crews can be expected to respond within three to seven minutes to calls concerning cardiorespiratory arrest, anaphylactic shock and opioid overdose. It is expected that around 1,700 such calls will be handled by First Responders annually through 9-1-1 for priority medical issues.
