Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services providing video birthday wishes
By Lethbridge Herald on April 17, 2020.
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The City's very own Despicable Me "Gru" impersonator, fire captain Paul Wasylewich, and a crew of his closest firefighting friends, will send a special video via email to lucky birthday children.Given the physical distancing regulations currently in place to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, birthdays are looking much different and for little ones and this can be disappointing and hard to understand. Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services is excited to be providing virtual birthday wishes to help brighten birthdays for Lethbridge’s littlest residents.
Parents and Guardians that have children 10 and under can fill out an online form at http://www.lethbridge.ca/birthdaywish to request a special electronic birthday message.
The City’s very own Despicable Me “Gru” impersonator, Captain Paul Wasylewich, and a crew of his closest firefighting friends, will send a special video via email to the lucky birthday child.
In other communities, fire departments have been taking requests for fire truck birthday drive-bys and there have been inquiries for a similar program here in Lethbridge. Unlike other municipalities, Lethbridge has an integrated Fire and EMS system. This means local firefighters are also paramedics and given the health crisis we are facing, they unfortunately don’t have the capacity to arrange birthday drive-bys.
In talking with other municipalities, larger cities have seen thousands of requests for birthday drive bys in a single month. This would be extremely taxing on Lethbridge’s emergency responders during an already busy time.
Still wanting to reach out to the community and brighten birthdays for kids across Lethbridge, our Fire and Emergency Services team put together another option to help celebrate important these milestones during a difficult time.
For regular COVID-19 updates from the City of Lethbridge visit http://www.lethbridge.ca/covid19.
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