 What started out as an ambulance donation to the St. Lucia Fire Service, developed into a project that equipped St. Lucia's first responders with the necessary training and technology to improve their responsiveness when on duty. The closing ceremony of the Golden Hour project by Platinum and Surrey Ambulance Services was held on Friday, April 9, 2021. At the ceremony, participants in the training exercise received their certificates, and the fire service received three new ambulances. Fire Officer Joseph Joseph says the department is in a much better position after the training exercise. So we've boosted our resource capacity, so you can see behind the fleet of ambulances, donated ambulances, and equipment, and of course you will hear about it in a while. We've also boosted our response capacity in the training that was provided to members of our department, as well as the Royal St. Lucia Police Force. And also there's that opportunity for the Ministry of Health, the Police Department, and the Fire Department to work together to create a better synergy among the departments so that we can provide a better service to St. Lucia. Timothy Modent, qualified instructor, paramedic and chief executive officer at Platinum and Surrey Ambulance Services says the aim was to aid St. Lucia becoming one of the safest island destinations. Well, we're all in the time of COVID at the moment. Yeah, and what we want to know is all these people that are coming here to travel, the tourists and everything else, which is so vital for the economy, are going to look for one of the safest islands to come to. And what we're doing is we're helping and promoting St. Lucia to be one of those safest islands. We're going to be donating moral ambulances. We're going to be coming over and carrying out more training and more qualifying and increasing the skills and increasing the partnership working through all the emergency services. And our dream is not only for it to be the emergency services that will come here and start teaching teachers, other government workers, hotel workers, everyone in what we call our community first response course. So there is a make a medical capability across the island. Once upon a time, the training exercise Sergeant 385 Thompson of the Royal St. Lucia Police Force says the experience expanded his knowledge and ability as a first responder. Having completed the training, we now understand that we can perform an initial medical assessment and based on our observations and training, the relevant crucial information can be conveyed to the relevant body like the responding appliances prior to the scene. So we have gotten the training that apart from securing the scene, we can make observation and really that to the, to the, the responding appliance. So they beforehand would have an idea exactly what is happening and what can be done. I think prior to the arrival of the paramedics, we were also, we can also take necessary action, including how to apply pressure to wounds, applying abdominal thrust to a choking victim or administering CPR to an unconscious person, which may be vital in saving that person's life or limb. Addressing the closing and handing over ceremony, Prime Minister of St. Lucia Hon. Alan Shastney expressed extreme gratitude to the members of Platinum and Surrey Ambulance Services and his Excellency Guy Mears. For their contribution to the advancement of St. Lucia's first response capabilities. When I heard today about the details of the training, this is a gift that lasts forever. The ambulances themselves, hopefully we do as good of a job as you have in maintaining them, but they will have an expiry date. But the training that you've provided lasts forever. We certainly am very happy to hear that the skill sets are not being transferred just to the individuals, but Mr. Joseph Joseph had the foresight to make sure that we had trainers here. I'm also very encouraged and to give you the assurances of my government that any additional training and then the number of trips that's required for you to come back, you are always welcome in St. Lucia. St. Lucia's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, his Excellency Guy Mears who facilitated the donation and training, says he looks forward to a continued partnership with Platinum and Surrey Ambulance Services. From the Government Information Service, Hermadi Mark reporting.