 I'm EMT Regis, Emergency Medical Technician, attached to the Cassius Fire Service. Today, I'll briefly touch note on the situation which is at hand, which is the COVID-19 situation, which is a very serious situation. I think the general public has a misconception of I have been a victim of COVID-19 and it has been a really, really tough challenge for me when I actually had the virus. I had difficulty breathing, I was hospitalized and I have absolutely no underlying issues. My sister, who recently passed away, fell victim to the virus. The virus is as serious as the doctors say it is. We have found ourselves in situations where our resources are exhausted, the men are exhausted, the hospitals are exhausted. I have personally seen at the hospital doctors where it's very difficult for them and the nurses where the doctors are basically answering the phones, they need to cater for the patients, they need to document their reports and it's just as hard. On a daily basis, we receive a lot of calls. Initially, maybe we would have received more frontline calls but now you get more COVID calls where you find people have a lot of different symptoms such as shortness of breath, abdominal pain, fever, coughing, diarrhea, vomiting and it's just a lot and you would find that the person's saturation level, the oxygen saturation level is very low. When we get to the patients, sometimes it's very critical and when the hospital is exhausted and the hospital is overworked and there are a lot of patients, what will happen is really and truly people will die because they will not be able to receive the adequate treatment that they need. The doctors may be lacking resources, they're lacking manpower and also at the fire service we're lacking manpower and we're lacking resources and it's very difficult for us. So I think people need to really take COVID-19 very seriously. Like I said, I lost my sister and I could have lost my life through COVID-19. I recall that evening very clearly. My sister is not one to ever ask me to go to the hospital and she came to me and she told me, Jay, she really cannot breathe. She said to me that she cannot breathe. I did my vitals on her and I realized she's critical. She's really bad. So I brought her to the hospital. The doctors at the OKU hospital treated her and the doctor told me that she has a mild pneumonia. Within three days she will be treated with antibiotics and then to be sent over to the Victoria hospital. When she went over to the respiratory clinic the next day I had work. She told me that she's doing okay. The doctor said that she's fine alongside Claire. Hopefully if she's been treated she will be sent home for quarantine. So I was really excited, really happy that knowing that she's there. When I spoke to my sister the day after I realized that she's not in the best condition that the way I saw her from the time I brought her in the hospital and from there on my sister has been deteriorating. It is really sad, especially on her last hour when the doctors called me and just before that we spoke over video call and the doctors told me to prepare myself because she's not doing too well and then she's been integrated. At that point I knew I lost my sister and this is when things really really really really took a toll on me especially when going back to work and seeing on a every time I go especially to the respiratory clinic seeing dead bodies been seen dead bodies been put away in the vans to live to go to the funeral home and it's just sad it takes a toll on frontline workers it takes a toll on me personally because I have lost my sister and also people have lost their family their loved ones and like I said it really hit home and now I have to bury my sister now I have to really bury my sister so I think we need to do what is right follow the protocols protect yourself and your family I'm not saying people cannot have a good time but we need to protect ourselves the whatever it takes to protect ourselves and I'm telling you it's a lot from the fire service point of view and I'm only speaking for my crew there are two other crews and they are also exhausted through the entire COVID-19 pandemic situation it's very very very hard the hospitals are overwhelmed they're overflowing with sick people people are crying and calling all the time family members are crying all the time for patients who have difficulty breathing and sometimes only get there it's just it's too late so please take the right side it's just sad really really sad situations where I would go to a patient responding on the frontline ambulance maybe just basic sideline symptoms and when we get there it's just as severe when I get home maybe on my my 48 hours of rest I will watch my television and see those very same people that I went for is on telemetries and maybe when I get to the hospital I find out about what happened and realizing that they were transferred maybe to a respiratory clinic and they did not make it