Local youths had some added entertainment on Halloween this year thanks to the Haunted Ambulance offered by the Estevan Emergency Medical Services (EMS).
Winston Hunt, a primary care paramedic with the EMS, said they thought it would be a good way to give back to the community by not only going out and handing out candy to kids, but also to show that EMS personnel are friendly and nice people.
It was also a chance to show children the inside of the ambulance, in case they hadn’t seen it before, and to show children a friendly side of the EMS in case they ever encounter an emergency and have to call 911.
During the day, EMS went to the Estevan Day Care Co-operative to visit with some of the kids, and to allow them to tour the decorated ambulance. Then they did the same at Bienfait Weldon School for both school students and day care members.
Then in the evening, they went to the Estevan Church of God’s warm-up shack to interact with youths. They also toured around the city to hand out candy and allow children to see the inside of the ambulance.
“The overall reception seemed to be pretty good. They were laughing and having fun. They didn’t really think it was too scary, which was good because we didn’t want it to be too scary. We wanted it to be inviting and fun.”
The children and parents enjoyed it, and people wanted to take photos.
Inside the ambulance, there were some spider webs in front of the cabinets, some skulls and skeletons inside and some lights set up behind curtains.
“We had decorated some of the curtains with fake bloody gauze, and we had some candy set out on the stretcher for the kids to take,” Hunt said.
The decorating took place the day before, and they were removed once Halloween was finished. They used a spare unit so as not to affect ambulance coverage in the Estevan area, but it still needed to be ready for service if need be on Nov. 1.
The staff paid for the candy and the decorations, rather than the Saskatchewan Health Authority.
Hunt hopes the EMS will be able to do this again.
“Judging by the reaction that we got from the kids and the parents and other staff members, everyone thought it was such a great idea, so hopefully we will be able to provide an even bigger and better event for the kids in the community next year,” said Hunt.
