The Hamilton Paramedic Service’s cycling team, the Escarpment City Gears, hit the road Thursday for the first leg of a memorial bike ride to Ottawa.
Every day of the journey starts with the names of the 48 Canadian paramedics who have lost their lives on the job since 1980 being read aloud. It’s followed by a moment of silence.
Superintendent Dave Thompson says the bike ride is a way to honour their memory.
“We’ve all been touched by somebody or know somebody who was affected by a line of duty death in the province. It’s a great opportunity for us to come together and remember them.”
“There’s great camaraderie out here,” he said.
Thompson is part of the team tacking the one day Hammer to TO ride on to the more than 500-kilometre trip to Ottawa, which will bring together approximately 200 cyclists from across the country.
The one-day ride, starting in Stoney Creek, is a fairly recent addition to the initiative that is now in its sixth year.
The annual ride seeks to raise funds for a national monument in Ottawa dedicated to fallen paramedics.
“There are many risks on the job, both individual health risks and life safety risks,” said Hamilton paramedic chief Michael Sanderson.
“In my career, I have unfortunately had to attend five individual funerals for line-of-duty deaths for paramedics. … We need to make sure there is some kind of memorial to recognize them on a national level.”
The cost of a national memorial statue is in the millions, so each annual ride chips away at the cost.
Last year paramedics raised $250,000.
Organizers are aiming for the same amount this year.
The Hamilton Paramedic Service is hoping to start it all off by donating $5,000 to the Canadian Memorial Fund.
“It becomes a touchstone for people, it becomes a place where they can remember,” Sanderson said.
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