By Jessika Harkay on July 13, 2021
Growing up, Thierry Gation never pictured himself as an EMT because none looked like him.
“Most of the EMTs I saw were Caucasian. I never saw EMTs that were Hispanic or that were African-American, or anything else. It wasn’t until I started working at hotels in New York, and I started working in different places, where we’d call 911 that we’d see EMT’s of different demographics,” Gation said.
But Gation is now on track to become a certified EMT and embark on a new career, thanks to a new program created by the The City of Hartford and American Medical Response, the medical transportation company. The “Earn While You Learn” program paid a group of students to earn their EMT certification earlier in the year, in hopes of diversifying a field with little diversity. In 2017, only 5% of EMTs were Black and 13% were Hispanic, according to US News.
Read more via Hartford Courant >>